Interleukin-1 Hy2 materials and methods

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides novel nucleic acids encoding IL-1 Hy2, a novel member of the Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist family, the novel polypeptides encoded by these nucleic acids and uses of these and related products.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a novel polynucleotide encoding aprotein called IL-1 Hy2, which is structurally related to interleukin-1receptor antagonist protein, along with therapeutic, diagnostic andresearch utilities for these and related products.

BACKGROUND

Cytokines are involved in inflammation and the immune response, in partthrough endothelial cell activation. Distinct immune-mediators such astumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-1 (IL-1), and gamma-interferon(IFN) appear to induce different but partially overlapping patterns ofendothelial cell activation including increased procoagulant activity(Bevilaqua (1986) PNAS, 83:4533-4537), PGI and 2 production (Rossi(1985), Science, 229:174-176), HLA antigen expression (Pober (1987) J.Immunol., 138:3319-3324) and lymphocyte adhesion molecules (Carender(1987) J. Immunol., 138:2149-2154). These cytokines are also reported tocause hypotension, vascular hemorrhage, and ischemia (Goldblum et al.1989, Tracey et al. Science 234:470, 1986). A major toxicity of theseand other biological response modifiers is hypotension and vascularleakage (Dvorak (1989) J.N.C.I., 81:497-502).

IL-1 is produced by a number of cell types, including monocyte andmacrophages, Langerhans cells, natural killer cells, B cells, T cellleukemic cell lines, neutrophils, endothelial cells, dendritic cells,melanoma cell lines, mesangial cells, astrocytes, glioma cells,microglial cells, fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Two forms of IL-1have been isolated; IL-1α and IL-1β. They represent the products of twodistinct genes and their mature forms are 159 and 153 amino acidproteins, respectively. These molecules are extremely potent andmulti-functional cell activators, with a spectrum that encompasses cellsof hematopoietic origin, from immature precursors to differentiatedleukocytes, vessel wall elements, and cells of mesenchymal, nervous andepithelial origin. IL-1 also induces production of secondary cytokines,including IL-6, colony stimulating factors (CSFs) and chemokines. IL-1is active as a hematopoietic growth and differentiation factor;activates endothelial cells in a pro-inflammatory and pro-thromboticmanner (including by inducing production of tissue factor and plateletactivating factor); stimulates the release of corticotropin-releasinghormone (CRH) that ultimately causes release of corticosteroids by theadrenals; mediates the acute phase response (including by inducinghepatocyte production of acute phase proteins) and is a central mediatorof local and systemic inflammatory reactions that can lead to sepsis andseptic shock; is the primary endogenous pyrogen (causing fever); inducesslow-wave sleep and anorexia; may play a role in destructive joint andbone diseases (including by inducing production of collagenase bysynovial cells and metalloproteinases by chondrocytes); stimulatesfibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis; and may play a role inthe pathogenesis of insulin-dependent type I diabetes through itstoxicity for insulin-producing beta cells in Langerhans islets.

The IL-1 pathway consists of the two agonists IL-1α and IL-1β, aspecific activation system (IL-1 converting enzyme), a receptorantagonist (IL-1Ra) produced in different isoforms and two high affinityreceptors. IL-1α and IL-1β bind to two distinct IL-1 receptor types,IL-1 receptor type I (IL-1RI) and IL-1 receptor type II (IL-1RII), bothof which are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily of receptors.Both types of receptors are usually coexpressed, although type I is thepredominant form in fibroblasts and T cells, while type II ispreferentially expressed on B cells, monocytes and neutrophils. IL-1RIand IL-1RII have different affinities for the three ligands of the IL-1family (IL-1α, IL-1β and IL-1Ra). In particular, IL-1Ra binds to thetype I receptor with an affinity similar to that of IL-1α, while IL-1Rabinds to the type II receptor 100-fold less efficiently than the type Ireceptor. There is evidence indicating that IL-1 induced activities aremediated exclusively via the type I receptor, whereas the type IIreceptor has no signaling activity and inhibits IL-1 activities byacting as a decoy for IL-1.

IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra or IRAP) binds to the IL-1 receptorwith affinity similar to that of IL-1 but has no IL-1-like activity,even at very high concentrations, and thus inhibits (antagonizes) theactivity of IL-1. The purified IL-1Ra molecule has a molecular weight ofapproximately 22 kD and is believed to be glycosylated. It has limitedsequence similarity to IL-1α and IL-1β at the amino acid level (19% and26%, respectively). There appear to be at least two isoforms of IL-1Ra,including a soluble form and an intracellular form generated by analternative splicing event. IL-1Ra appears to be produced by monocytes,macrophages, neutrophils and fibroblasts; keratinocytes and cells ofepithelial origin produce almost exclusively the intracellular form. Inhumans, the gene for IL-1Ra has been localized to the long arm ofchromosome 2, which is the same region where IL-1α and IL-1β, as well asIL-1RI and IL-1RII, are found.

The ability of IL-1 to modify biological responses has been demonstratedin a variety of studies. For example, the administration of IL-1 torabbits (Wakabayashi et al., FASEB J 1991;5:338; Okusawa et al. J ClinInvest 1988;81:1162; Ohlsson et al., Nature 1990;348:550; Aiura, et al.Cytokine 1991;4:498) and primates (Fischer et al. Am J Physiol1991;261:R442) has been shown to result in hypotension, tachycardia,lung edema, renal failure, and, eventually, death, depending on thedose. When the serum from the IL-1 treated animals is examined, theelevation of other cytokines is evident, mimicking the levels seen inacute pancreatitis in humans. (Guice et al., J Surg Res 1991;51:495-499;Heath et al., Pancreas 1993;66:41-45) There is a large body of evidencecurrently available which supports the role of IL-1 as a major mediatorof the systemic response to diseases such as sepsis and pancreatitis andas an activator of the remaining members of the cytokine cascade.(Dinarello et al., Arch Surg 1992;127:1350-1353).

IL-1 is a key mediator in the inflammatory response (for reviews, seeDinarello (1991) Blood 77: 1627-1652; Dinarello et al. (1993) NewEngland J. Med. 328:106-113; Dinarello (1994) FASEB J. 8:1314-1325). Theimportance of IL-1 in inflammation has been demonstrated by the abilityof the highly specific IL-1 receptor antagonist protein to relieveinflammatory conditions (for review, see Dinarello (1991) Blood 77:1627-1652; Dinarello et al. (1993) New England J. Med. 328:106-113;Dinarello (1994) FASEB J. 8:1314-1325; Dinarello (1993) Immunol. Today14:260-264). Many of the proinflammatory effects of IL-1, such as theupregulation of cell adhesion molecules on vascular endothelia, areexerted at the level of transcriptional regulation. The transcriptionalactivation by IL-1 of cell adhesion molecules and other genes involvedin the inflammatory response appears to be mediated largely by NF-kappaB (Shirakawa et al. (1989) Molc. Cell Biol. 9:2424-2430; Osborn et al.,(1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:2336-2340; Krasnow et al., (1991)Cytokine 3:372-379; Collins et al., (1993) Trends Cardiovasc. Med.3:92-97). In response to IL-1, the NF-kappa B inhibitory factor I kappaB is degraded and NF-kappa B is released from its inactive cytoplasmicstate to localize within the nucleus where it binds DNA and activatestranscription (Liou et al. (1993) Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 5:477-487; Beget al., (1993) Mol. Cell. Bid. 13:3301-3310).

IL-1 is also a mediator of septic shock. Septic shock, alife-threatening complication of bacterial infections, affects 150,000to 300,000 patients annually in the United States (Parrillo, J. E.(1989), Septic Shock in Humans: Clinical Evaluation, Pathogenesis, andTherapeutic Approach (2nd ed.) In: Textbook of Critical Care Shoemaker,et al., editors, Saunders Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Pa., pp. 1006).The cardiovascular collapse and multiple metabolic derangementsassociated with septic shock are due largely to bacterial endotoxin(ET), which has been shown to elicit a septic shock-like condition whenadministered to animals (Natanson, et al. (1989), Endotoxin and TumorNecrosis Factor Challenges in Dogs Simulate the Cardiovascular Profileof Human Septic Shock, J. Exp. Med. 169:823).

Thus, there is a great need for modulators of IL-1 which may be usefulfor modulating inflammation and the immune response.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The compositions of the present invention include novel isolatedpolypeptides, in particular, novel human Interleukin-1 Hy2 (IL-1 Hy2)proteins and active variants thereof, isolated polynucleotides encodingsuch polypeptides, including recombinant DNA molecules, cloned genes ordegenerate variants thereof, especially naturally occurring variantssuch as allelic variants, antisense polynucleotide molecules, andantibodies that specifically recognize one or more epitopes present onsuch polypeptides, as well as hybridomas producing such antibodies.

The compositions of the present invention additionally include vectors,including expression vectors, containing the polynucleotides of theinvention, cells genetically engineered to contain such polynucleotidesand cells genetically engineered to express such polynucleotides.

The polynucleotides of the invention include naturally occurring orwholly or partially synthetic DNA, e.g., cDNA and genomic DNA, and RNA,e.g., mRNA. The isolated polynucleotides of the invention include, butare not limited to, a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprisingthe amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2 or 3. The isolatedpolynucleotides of the invention further include, but are not limitedto, a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1;a polynucleotide comprising the full length protein coding sequence ofSEQ ID NO: 1 and a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence ofthe mature protein coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. The polynucleotidesof the present invention also include, but are not limited to,polynucleotides that encode polypeptides with IL-1 Hy2 activity and thathybridize under stringent hybridization conditions to the complement of(a) the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (b) a nucleotidesequence encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; apolynucleotide which is an allelic variant of any polynucleotide recitedabove; a polynucleotide which encodes a species homologue of any of theproteins recited above; or a polynucleotide that encodes a polypeptidecomprising a specific domain or truncation of the polypeptide having anamino acid sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2 or 3.

The polynucleotides of the present invention still further include, butare not limited to, a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequenceof the cDNA insert of clone pIL-1Hy2 deposited on May 21, 1999 underAccession No. PTA-96 with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC;10801 University Blvd., Manassas, Va., 20110-2209, U.S.A.) or an IL-1Hy2 protein coding portion thereof, such as the full length proteincoding sequence or the mature protein coding sequence.

The polynucleotides of the invention additionally include the complementof any of the polynucleotides recited above.

The isolated polypeptides of the invention include, but are not limitedto, a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2 or3, or the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA insert of clonepIL-1Hy2, or a portion thereof corresponding to the full length ormature protein. Polypeptides of the invention also include polypeptideswith IL-1 Hy2 activity that are encoded by (a) polynucleotides encodingSEQ ID NO: 2 or (b) polynucleotides that hybridize to the complement ofthe polynucleotides of (a) under stringent hybridization conditions.Biologically or immunologically active variants of the IL-1Ra proteinsequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4 and “substantial equivalents” thereof(e.g., with 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98% or 99% amino acididentity) that retain IL-1 Hy2 activity, preferably IL-1 antagonistactivity, are also contemplated. The polypeptides of the invention maybe wholly or partially chemically synthesized but are preferablyproduced by recombinant means using the genetically engineered cells(e.g. host cells) of the invention.

Protein compositions of the present invention may further comprise anacceptable carrier, such as a hydrophilic, e.g., pharmaceuticallyacceptable, carrier.

The invention also relates to methods for producing polypeptides of theinvention comprising growing a culture of the cells of the invention ina suitable culture medium under conditions permitting expression of thedesired polypeptide, and purifying the protein from the cells or theculture medium. Preferred embodiments include those in which the proteinproduced by such process is a mature form of the protein.

Polynucleotides according to the invention have numerous applications ina variety of techniques known to those skilled in the art of molecularbiology. These techniques include use as hybridization probes, use asoligomers for PCR, use for chromosome and gene mapping, use in therecombinant production of protein, and use in generation of anti-senseDNA or RNA, their chemical analogs and the like. For example, when theexpression of an mRNA is largely restricted to a particular cell ortissue type, polynucleotides of the invention can be used ashybridization probes to detect the presence of the particular cell ortissue mRNA in a sample using, e.g., in situ hybridization.

In other exemplary embodiments, the polynucleotides are used indiagnostics as expressed sequence tags for identifying expressed genesor, as well known in the art and exemplified by Vollrath et al., Science258:52-59 (1992), as expressed sequence tags for physical mapping of thehuman genome.

The polypeptides according to the invention can be used in a variety ofconventional procedures and methods that are currently applied to otherproteins. For example, a polypeptide of the invention can be used togenerate an antibody that Specifically binds the polypeptide. Thepolypeptides of the invention can also be used as molecular weightmarkers, and as a food supplement.

Methods are also provided for preventing, treating or ameliorating amedical condition which comprises administering to a mammalian subject atherapeutically effective amount of a composition comprising a proteinof the present invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

In particular, the polypeptides and polynucleotides of the invention canbe utilized, for example, as part of methods for the prevention and/ortreatment of IL-1 mediated disorders including disorders involvingsepsis (and associated conditions such as fever, tachycardia, tachypnea,cytokine overstimulation, increased vascular permeability, hypotension,complement activation, disseminated intravascular coagulation, anemia,thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, pulmonary edema, adult respiratorydistress syndrome, intestinal ischemia, renal insufficiency and failure,metabolic acidosis and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome), endotoxicshock, cytokine induced shock, thrombosis, acute pancreatitis,rheumatoid or reactive arthritis, chronic inflammatory arthitis,vasculitis, lupus, immune complex glomerulonephritis, pancreatic celldamage from diabetes mellitus type 1, allograft and xenografttransplantation, graft versus host disease, inflammatory bowel disease,inflamation associated with pulmonary disease, other autoimmune diseaseor inflammatory disease, an antiproliferative agent such as for acute orchronic myelogenous leukemia, ovarian carcinoma, or in the prevention ofpremature labor secondary to intrauterine infections, bone degenerativediseases such as osteoporosis, and neurodegenerative disorders such asAlzheimer disease.

Concurrent administration of other agents that inhibit the production oractivity of IL-1 (such as GM-CSF, IL-4, IL-10, IL-13 and transforminggrowth factor-beta) or other anti-inflammatory agents (such as IL-1Ra,IL-1Ra-like proteins described in co-owned, co-pending (now abandoned)U.S. application Ser. No. 09/287,210 filed Apr. 5, 1999, incorporatedherein by reference, anti-TNF, corticosteroids, immunosuppressiveagents) is also contemplated according to the invention.

The methods of the present invention further relate to methods fordetecting the presence of the polynucleotides or polypeptides of theinvention in a sample. Such methods can, for example, be utilized aspart of prognostic and diagnostic evaluation of disorders as recitedabove and for the identification of subjects exhibiting a predispositionto such conditions. Furthermore, the invention provides methods forevaluating the efficacy of drugs, and monitoring the progress ofpatients, involved in clinical trials for the treatment of disorders asrecited above.

The invention also provides methods for the identification of compoundsthat modulate (i.e., increase or decrease) the expression or activity ofthe polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention. Such methodscan be utilized, for example, for the identification of compounds thatcan ameliorate symptoms of disorders as recited above. Such methods caninclude, but are not limited to, assays for identifying compounds andother substances that interact with (e.g., bind to) the polypeptides ofthe invention.

The methods of the invention also include methods for the treatment ofdisorders as recited above which may involve the administration of suchcompounds to individuals exhibiting symptoms or tendencies related todisorders as recited above. In addition, the invention encompassesmethods for treating diseases or disorders as recited above byadministering compounds and other substances that modulate the overallactivity of the target gene products. Compounds and other substances caneffect such modulation either on the level of target gene expression ortarget protein activity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1B show an alignment of the amino acid sequence of IL-1 Hy2(SEQ ID NO. 2) with the sequences of IL-1Hy1 (described in co-owned,co-pending (now abandoned) U.S. Ser. No. 09/287,210 filed Apr. 5, 1999),rat IL-1Ra, pig IL-1Ra, secreted human IL-1Ra (Hu sIL-1Ra) andintracellular human IL-1Ra (Hu icIL-1Ra), SEQ ID NOS: 5-9, respectively.In these figures, A-Alanine; R-Arginine; N-Asparagine; D-Aspartic Acid;C-Cysteine; E-Glutamic Acid; Q-Glutamine; G-Glycine; H-Histidine;I-Isoleucine; L-Leucine; K-Lysine; M-Methionine; F-Phenylalanine;P-Proline; S-Serine; T-Threonine; W-Tryptophan; Y-Tyrosine; V-Valine;X-any of the twenty amino acids. Gaps are presented as dashes. Aminoacid numbers for all sequences are labeled accordingly. Boxed residuesindicate consensus or conserved sequence.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 1. Definitions

The term “nucleotide sequence” refers to a heteropolymer of nucleotidesor the sequence of these nucleotides. The terms “nucleic acid” and“polynucleotide” are also used interchangeably herein to refer to aheteropolymer of nucleotides. Generally, nucleic acid segments providedby this invention may be assembled from fragments of the genome andshort oligonucleotide linkers, or from a series of oligonucleotides, orfrom individual nucleotides, to provide a synthetic nucleic acid whichis capable of being expressed in a recombinant transcriptional unitcomprising regulatory elements derived from a microbial or viral operon,or a eukaryotic gene.

The terms “oligonucleotide fragment” or a “polynucleotide fragment”,“portion,” or “segment” is a stretch of polypeptide nucleotide residueswhich is long enough to use in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) orvarious hybridization procedures to identify or amplify identical orrelated parts of mRNA or DNA molecules.

The terms “oligonucleotides” or “nucleic acid probes” are prepared basedon the polynucleotide sequences provided in the present invention.Oligonucleotides comprise portions of such a polynucleotide sequencehaving at least about 15 nucleotides and usually at least about 20nucleotides. Nucleic acid probes comprise portions of such apolynucleotide sequence having fewer nucleotides than about 6 kb,usually fewer than about 1 kb. After appropriate testing to eliminatefalse positives, these probes may, for example, be used to determinewhether specific mRNA molecules are present in a cell or tissue or toisolate similar nucleic acid sequences from chromosomal DNA as describedby Walsh et al. (Walsh, P. S. et al., 1992, PCR Methods Appl 1:241-250).

The term “probes” includes naturally occurring or recombinant orchemically synthesized single- or double-stranded nucleic acids. Theymay be labeled by nick translation, Klenow fill-in reaction, PCR orother methods well known in the art. Probes of the present invention,their preparation and/or labeling are elaborated in Sambrook, J. et al.,1989, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring HarborLaboratory, NY; or Ausubel, F. M. et al., 1989, Current Protocols inMolecular Biology, John Wiley & Sons, New York N.Y., both of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The term “stringent” is used to refer to conditions that are commonlyunderstood in the art as stringent. Stringent conditions can includehighly stringent conditions (i.e., hybridization to filter-bound DNAunder in 0.5 M NaHPO₄, 7% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 1 mM EDTA at 65°C., and washing in 0.1×SSC/0.1% SDS at 68° C.), and moderately stringentconditions (i.e., washing in 0.2×SSC/0.1% SDS at 42° C.).

In instances wherein hybridization of deoxyoligonucleotides isconcerned, additional exemplary stringent hybridization conditionsinclude washing in 6×SSC/0.05% sodium pyrophosphate at 37° C. (for14-base oligos), 48° C. (for 17-base oligos), 55° C. (for 20-baseoligos), and 60° C. (for 23-base oligos).

The term “recombinant,” when used herein to refer to a polypeptide orprotein, means that a polypeptide or protein is derived from recombinant(e.g., microbial or mammalian) expression systems. “Microbial” refers torecombinant polypeptides or proteins made in bacterial or fungal (e.g.,yeast) expression systems. As a product, “recombinant microbial” definesa polypeptide or protein essentially free of native endogenoussubstances and unaccompanied by associated native glycosylation.Polypeptides or proteins expressed in most bacterial cultures, e.g., E.coli, will be free of glycosylation modifications; polypeptides orproteins expressed in yeast will have a glycosylation pattern in generaldifferent from those expressed in mammalian cells.

The term “recombinant expression vehicle or vector” refers to a plasmidor phage or virus or vector, for expressing a polypeptide from a DNA(RNA) sequence. An expression vehicle can comprise a transcriptionalunit comprising an assembly of (1) a genetic element or elements havinga regulatory role in gene expression, for example, promoters orenhancers, (2) a structural or coding sequence which is transcribed intomRNA and translated into protein, and (3) appropriate transcriptioninitiation and termination sequences. Structural units intended for usein yeast or eukaryotic expression systems preferably include a leadersequence enabling extracellular secretion of translated protein by ahost cell. Alternatively, where recombinant protein is expressed withouta leader or transport sequence, it may include an N-terminal methionineresidue. This residue may or may not be subsequently cleaved from theexpressed recombinant protein to provide a final product.

The term “recombinant expression system” means host cells which havestably integrated a recombinant transcriptional unit into chromosomalDNA or carry the recombinant transcriptional unit extrachromosomally.Recombinant expression systems as defined herein will expressheterologous polypeptides or proteins upon induction of the regulatoryelements linked to the DNA segment or synthetic gene to be expressed.This term also means host cells which have stably integrated arecombinant genetic element or elements having a regulatory role in geneexpression, for example, promoters or enhancers. Recombinant expressionsystems as defined herein will express polypeptides or proteinsendogenous to the cell upon induction of the regulatory elements linkedto the endogenous DNA segment or gene to be expressed. The cells can beprokaryotic or eukaryotic.

The term “open reading frame,” ORF, means a series of nucleotidetriplets coding for amino acids without any termination codons and is asequence translatable into protein.

The term “expression modulating fragment,” EMF, means a series ofnucleotides which modulates the expression of an operably linked ORF oranother EMF.

As used herein, a sequence is said to “modulate the expression of anoperably linked sequence” when the expression of the sequence is alteredby the presence of the EMF. EMFs include, but are not limited to,promoters, and promoter modulating sequences (inducible elements). Oneclass of EMFs are fragments which induce the expression or an operablylinked ORF in response to a specific regulatory factor or physiologicalevent.

As used herein, an “uptake modulating fragment,” UMF, means a series ofnucleotides which mediate the uptake of a linked DNA fragment into acell. UMFs can be readily identified using known UMFs as a targetsequence or target motif with the computer-based systems describedbelow.

The presence and activity of a UMF can be confirmed by attaching thesuspected UMF to a marker sequence. The resulting nucleic acid moleculeis then incubated with an appropriate host under appropriate conditionsand the uptake of the marker sequence is determined. As described above,a UMF will increase the frequency of uptake of a linked marker sequence.

The term “active” refers to those forms of the polypeptide which retainthe biologic and/or immunologic activities of any naturally occurringpolypeptide. According to the invention, the term “biologically active”with reference to IL-1 Hy2 means that the polypeptide retains at leastone of the biological activities, preferably the IL-1 antagonistactivity, of human IL-1 Hy2, while the term “immunologically active”with reference to IL-1 Hy2 means that the polypeptide retains at leastone of the immunologic or antigenic activities of human IL-1 Hy2.

The term “naturally occurring polypeptide” refers to polypeptidesproduced by cells that have not been genetically engineered andspecifically contemplates various polypeptides arising frompost-translational modifications of the polypeptide including, but notlimited to, acetylation, carboxylation, glycosylation, phosphorylation,lipidation and acylation.

The term “derivative” refers to polypeptides chemically modified by suchtechniques as ubiquitination, labeling (e.g., with radionuclides orvarious enzymes), pegylation (derivatization with polyethylene glycol)and insertion or substitution by chemical synthesis of amino acids suchas ornithine, which do not normally occur in human proteins.

The term “variant” (or “analog”) refers to any polypeptide differingfrom naturally occurring polypeptides by amino acid insertions,deletions, and substitutions, created using recombinant DNA techniques.Guidance in determining which amino acid residues may be replaced, addedor deleted without abolishing activities of interest, such as IL-1antagonistic activity, may be found by comparing the sequence of theparticular polypeptide with that of homologous human or other mammalianpeptides e.g. IL-1Ra, IL-1Hy1, or IL-1, and minimizing the number ofamino acid sequence changes made in regions of high homology (conservedregions) or by replacing amino acids with consensus sequence.

Preferably, amino acid “substitutions” are the result of replacing oneamino acid with another amino acid having similar structural and/orchemical properties, i.e., conservative amino acid replacements.“Conservative” amino acid substitutions may be made on the basis ofsimilarity in polarity, charge, solubility, hydrophobicity,hydrophilicity, and/or the amphipathic nature of the residues involved.For example, nonpolar (hydrophobic) amino acids include alanine,leucine, isoleucine, valine, proline, phenylalanine, tryptophan, andmethionine; polar neutral amino acids include glycine, serine,threonine, cysteine, tyrosine, asparagine, and glutamine; positivelycharged (basic) amino acids include arginine, lysine, and histidine; andnegatively charged (acidic) amino acids include aspartic acid andglutamic acid. “Insertions” or “deletions” are typically in the range ofabout 1 to 5 amino acids. The variation allowed may be experimentallydetermined by systematically making insertions, deletions, orsubstitutions of amino acids in a polypeptide molecule using recombinantDNA techniques and assaying the resulting recombinant variants foractivity.

Alternatively, where alteration of function is desired, insertions,deletions or non-conservative alterations can be engineered to producealtered polypeptides. Such alterations can, for example, alter one ormore of the biological functions or biochemical characteristics of thepolypeptides of the invention. For example, such alterations may changepolypeptide characteristics such as ligand-binding affinities,interchain affinities, or degradation/turnover rate. Further, suchalterations can be selected so as to generate polypeptides that arebetter suited for expression, scale up and the like in the host cellschosen for expression. For example, cysteine residues can be deleted orsubstituted with another amino acid residue in order to eliminatedisulfide bridges.

As used herein, “substantially equivalent” can refer both to nucleotideand amino acid sequences, for example a mutant sequence, that variesfrom a reference sequence by one or more substitutions, deletions, oradditions, the net effect of which does not result in an adversefunctional dissimilarity between the reference and subject sequences.Typically, such a substantially equivalent sequence varies from one ofthose listed herein by no more than about 20% (i.e., the number ofindividual residue substitutions, additions, and/or deletions in asubstantially equivalent sequence, as compared to the correspondingreference sequence, divided by the total number of residues in thesubstantially equivalent sequence is about 0.2 or less). Such a sequenceis said to have 80% sequence identity to the listed sequence. In oneembodiment, a substantially equivalent, e.g., mutant, sequence of theinvention varies from a listed sequence by no more than 10% (90%sequence identity); in a variation of this embodiment, by no more than5% (95% sequence identity); and in a further variation of thisembodiment, by no more than 2% (98% sequence identity). Substantiallyequivalent, e.g., mutant, amino acid sequences according to theinvention generally have at least 95% sequence identity with a listedamino acid sequence, whereas substantially equivalent nucleotidesequence of the invention can have lower percent sequence identities,taking into account, for example, the redundancy or degeneracy of thegenetic code. For the purposes of the present invention, sequenceshaving substantially equivalent biological activity and substantiallyequivalent expression characteristics are considered substantiallyequivalent. For the purposes of determining equivalence, truncation ofthe mature sequence (e.g., via a mutation which creates a spurious stopcodon) should be disregarded. Sequence identity may be determined, e.g.,using the Jotun Hein method.

Nucleic acid sequences encoding such substantially equivalent sequences,e.g., sequences of the recited percent identities, can routinely beisolated and identified via standard hybridization procedures well knownto those of skill in the art.

Where desired, an expression vector may be designed to contain a “signalor leader sequence” which will direct the polypeptide through themembrane of a cell. Such a sequence may be naturally present on thepolypeptides of the present invention or provided from heterologousprotein sources by recombinant DNA techniques.

A polypeptide “fragment,” “portion,” or “segment” is a stretch of aminoacid residues of at least about 5 amino acids, often at least about 7amino acids, typically at least about 9 to 13 amino acids, and, invarious embodiments, at least about 17 or more amino acids. To beactive, any polypeptide must have sufficient length to display biologicand/or immunologic activity.

Alternatively, recombinant variants encoding these same or similarpolypeptides may be synthesized or selected by making use of the“redundancy” in the genetic code. Various codon substitutions, such asthe silent changes which produce various restriction sites, may beintroduced to optimize cloning into a plasmid or viral vector orexpression in a particular prokaryotic or eukaryotic system. Mutationsin the polynucleotide sequence may be reflected in the polypeptide ordomains of other peptides added to the polypeptide to modify theproperties of any part of the polypeptide, to change characteristicssuch as ligand-binding affinities, interchain affinities, ordegradation/turnover rate.

The term “activated” cells as used in this application are those whichare engaged in extracellular or intracellular membrane trafficking,including the export of neurosecretory or enzymatic molecules as part ofa normal or disease process.

The term “purified” as used herein denotes that the indicated nucleicacid or polypeptide is present in the substantial absence of otherbiological macromolecules, e.g., polynucleotides, proteins, and thelike. In one embodiment, the polynucleotide or polypeptide is purifiedsuch that it constitutes at least 95% by weight, more preferably atleast 99.8% by weight, of the indicated biological macromoleculespresent (but water, buffers, and other small molecules, especiallymolecules having a molecular weight of less than 1000 daltons, can bepresent).

The term “isolated” as used herein refers to a nucleic acid orpolypeptide separated from at least one other component (e.g., nucleicacid or polypeptide) present with the nucleic acid or polypeptide in itsnatural source. In one embodiment, the nucleic acid or polypeptide isfound in the presence of (if anything) only a solvent, buffer, ion, orother component normally present in a solution of the same. The terms“isolated” and “purified” do not encompass nucleic acids or polypeptidespresent in their natural source.

The term “infection” refers to the introduction of nucleic acids into asuitable host cell by use of a virus or viral vector.

The term “transformation” means introducing DNA into a suitable hostcell so that the DNA is replicable, either as an extrachromosomalelement, or by chromosomal integration.

The term “transfection” refers to the taking up of an expression vectorby a suitable host cell, whether or not any coding sequences are in factexpressed.

The term “intermediate fragment” means a nucleic acid between 5 and 1000bases in length, and preferably between 10 and 40 bp in length.

The term “secreted” includes a protein that is transported across orthrough a membrane, including transport as a result of signal sequencesin its amino acid sequence when it is expressed in a suitable host cell.“Secreted” proteins include without limitation proteins secreted wholly(e.g., soluble proteins) or partially (e.g., receptors) from the cell inwhich they are expressed. “Secreted” proteins also include withoutlimitation proteins which are transported across the membrane of theendoplasmic reticulum. “Secreted” proteins are also intended to includeproteins containing nontypical signal sequences (e.g. Interleukin-1Beta, see Krasney, P. A. and Young, P. R. (1992) Cytokine 4(2): 134-143)and factors released from damaged cells (e.g. Interleukin-1 ReceptorAntagonist, see Arend, W. P. et. al. (1998) Annu. Rev. Immunol.16:27-55).

Each of the above terms is meant to encompasses all that is describedfor each, unless the context dictates otherwise.

Nucleic Acids and Polypeptides of the Invention

Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the invention are reported below.Fragments of the proteins of the present invention which are capable ofexhibiting biological activity are also encompassed by the presentinvention. Fragments of the protein may be in linear form or they may becyclized using known methods, for example, as described in H. U.Saragovi, et al., Bio/Technology 10, 773-778 (1992) and in R. S.McDowell, et al., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 114, 9245-9253 (1992), both ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference. Such fragments may be fusedto carrier molecules such as immunoglobulins for many purposes,including increasing the valency of protein binding sites. For example,fragments of the protein may be fused through “linker” sequences to theFc portion of an immunoglobulin. For a bivalent form of the protein,such a fusion could be to the Fc portion of an IgG molecule. Otherimmunoglobulin isotypes may also be used to generate such fusions. Forexample, a protein-IgM fusion would generate a decavalent form of theprotein of the invention.

The present invention also provides both full-length and mature forms(for example, without a signal sequence or precusor sequence) of thedisclosed proteins. The full-length form of the such proteins isidentified in the sequence listing by translation of the nucleotidesequence of each disclosed clone. The mature form of such protein may beobtained by expression of the disclosed full-length polynucleotide in asuitable mammalian cell or other host cell. The sequence of the matureform of the protein is also determinable from the amino acid sequence ofthe full-length form. Where protein of the present invention is membranebound, soluble forms of the protein are also provided. In such formspart or all of the regions causing the protein to be membrane bound aredeleted so that the protein is fully secreted from the cell in which itis expressed.

The present invention also provides genes corresponding to the cDNAsequences disclosed herein. The corresponding genes can be isolated inaccordance with known methods using the sequence information disclosedherein. Such methods include the preparation of probes or primers fromthe disclosed sequence information for identification and/oramplification of genes in appropriate genomic libraries or other sourcesof genomic materials. Species homologs of the disclosed polynucleotidesand proteins are also provided by the present invention. Specieshomologs may be isolated and identified by making suitable probes orprimers from the sequences provided herein and screening a suitablenucleic acid source from the desired species. The invention alsoencompasses allelic variants of the disclosed polynucleotides orproteins; that is, naturally-occurring alternative forms of the isolatedpolynucleotide which also encode proteins which are identical,homologous or related to that encoded by the polynucleotides. Thecompositions of the present invention include isolated polynucleotides,including recombinant DNA molecules, cloned genes or degenerate variantsthereof, especially naturally occurring variants such as allelicvariants, novel isolated polypeptides, and antibodies that specificallyrecognize one or more epitopes present on such polypeptides. Specieshomologs of the disclosed polynucleotides and proteins are also providedby the present invention. Species homologs may be isolated andidentified by making suitable probes or primers from the sequencesprovided herein and screening a suitable nucleic acid source from thedesired species. The invention also encompasses allelic variants of thedisclosed polynucleotides or proteins; that is, naturally-occurringalternative forms of the isolated polynucleotide which also encodeproteins which are identical, homologous or related to that encoded bythe polynucleotides.

2. Nucleic Acids of the Invention

The isolated polynucleotides of the invention include, but are notlimited to, a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising the aminoacid sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2 or 4. A preferred nucleic acid sequenceis set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 (which is identical to SEQ ID NO: 3 exceptfor the identification of the protein coding region, which isnucleotides 54 through 509 for SEQ ID NO: 1 and nucleotides 3 through509 for SEQ ID NO: 3).

The isolated polynucleotides of the invention further include, but arenot limited to a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence ofSEQ ID NO: 1; a polynucleotide comprising the full length protein codingsequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; and a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotidesequence of the mature protein coding sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. Thepolynucleotides of the present invention also include, but are notlimited to, polynucleotides that encode polypeptides with IL-1 Hy2activity and that hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions tothe complement of either (a) the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ IDNOS: 2 or 4; a polynucleotide which is an allelic variant of anypolynucleotide recited above; a polynucleotide which encodes a specieshomologue of any of the proteins recited above; or a polynucleotide thatencodes a polypeptide comprising a specific domain or truncation of thepolypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4.

The polynucleotides of the present invention still further include, butare not limited to, a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequenceof the cDNA insert of clone pIL-1Hy2 or an IL-1 Hy2 protein codingportion thereof, such as the full length protein coding sequence or themature protein coding sequence.

The polynucleotides of the invention additionally include the complementof any of the polynucleotides recited above.

The polynucleotides of the invention also provide polynucleotidesincluding nucleotide sequences that are substantially equivalent to thepolynucleotides recited above. Polynucleotides according to theinvention can have at least about 65%, more typically at least about70%, 75%, 80%, 85% or 90%, and even more typically at least about 95%,sequence identity to a polynucleotide recited above. The invention alsoprovides the complement of the polynucleotides including a nucleotidesequence that has at least about 80%, more typically at least about 90%,and even more typically at least about 95%, sequence identity to apolynucleotide encoding a polypeptide recited above. The polynucleotidecan be DNA (genomic, cDNA, amplified, or synthetic) or RNA. Methods andalgorithms for obtaining such polynucleotides are well known to those ofskill in the art and can include, for example, methods for determininghybridization conditions which can routinely isolate polynucleotides ofthe desired sequence identities.

A polynucleotide according to the invention can be joined to any of avariety of other nucleotide sequences by well-established recombinantDNA techniques (see Sambrook J et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning: ALaboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY). Useful nucleotidesequences for joining to polypeptides include an assortment of vectors,e.g., plasmids, cosmids, lambda phage derivatives, phagemids, and thelike, that are well known in the art. Accordingly, the invention alsoprovides a vector including a polynucleotide of the invention and a hostcell containing the polynucleotide. In general, the vector contains anorigin of replication functional in at least one organism, convenientrestriction endonuclease sites, and a selectable marker for the hostcell. Vectors according to the invention include expression vectors,replication vectors, probe generation vectors, and sequencing vectors. Ahost cell according to the invention can be a prokaryotic or eukaryoticcell and can be a unicellular organism or part of a multicellularorganism.

The sequences falling within the scope of the present invention are notlimited to the specific sequences herein described, but also includeallelic variations thereof Allelic variations can be routinelydetermined by comparing the sequence provided in SEQ ID NO: 1, or arepresentative fragment thereof, or a nucleotide sequence at least 99.9%identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 with a sequence from another isolate of thesame species. Example 2 shows that several allelic variants exist, someof which result in changes in the encoded polypeptide sequence.

To accommodate codon variability, the invention includes nucleic acidmolecules coding for the same amino acid sequences as do the specificORFs disclosed herein. In other words, in the coding region of an ORF,substitution of one codon for another which encodes the same amino acidis expressly contemplated. Any specific sequence disclosed herein can bereadily screened for errors by resequencing a particular fragment, suchas an ORF, in both directions (i.e., sequence both strands).

The present invention further provides recombinant constructs comprisinga nucleic acid having the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a fragment thereofor any other polynucleotides of the invention. In one embodiment, therecombinant constructs of the present invention comprise a vector, suchas a plasmid or viral vector, into which a nucleic acid having thesequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a fragment thereof is inserted, in a forwardor reverse orientation. In the case of a vector comprising one of theORFs of the present invention, the vector may further compriseregulatory sequences, including for example, a promoter, operably linkedto the ORF. For vectors comprising the EMFs and UMFs of the presentinvention, the vector may further comprise a marker sequence orheterologous ORF operably linked to the EMF or UMF. Large numbers ofsuitable vectors and promoters are known to those of skill in the artand are commercially available for generating the recombinant constructsof the present invention. The following vectors are provided by way ofexample. Bacterial: pBs, phagescript, PsiX174, pBluescript SK, pBs KS,pNH8a, pNH16a, pNH18a, pNH46a (Stratagene); pTrc99A, pKK223-3, pKK233-3,pDR540, pRIT5 (Pharmacia). Eukaryotic: pWLneo, pSV2cat, pOG44, PXTI, pSG(Stratagene) pSVK3, pBPV, pMSG, pSVL (Pharmacia).

The isolated polynucleotide of the invention may be operably linked toan expression control sequence such as the pMT2 or pED expressionvectors disclosed in Kaufman et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 19, 4485-4490(1991), in order to produce the protein recombinantly. Many suitableexpression control sequences are known in the art. General methods ofexpressing recombinant proteins are also known and are exemplified in R.Kaufman, Methods in Enzymology 185, 537-566 (1990). As defined herein“operably linked” means that the isolated polynucleotide of theinvention and an expression control sequence are situated within avector or cell in such a way that the protein is expressed by a hostcell which has been transformed (transfected) with the ligatedpolynucleotide/expression control sequence.

Promoter regions can be selected from any desired gene using CAT(chloramphenicol transferase) vectors or other vectors with selectablemarkers. Two appropriate vectors are pKK232-8 and pCM7. Particular namedbacterial promoters include lacI, lacZ, T3, T7, gpt, lambda P_(R), andtrc. Eukaryotic promoters include CMV immediate early, HSV thymidinekinase, early and late SV40, LTRs from retrovirus, and mousemetallothionein-I. Selection of the appropriate vector and promoter iswell within the level of ordinary skill in the art. Generally,recombinant expression vectors will include origins of replication andselectable markers permitting transformation of the host cell, e.g., theampicillin resistance gene of E. coli and S. cerevisiae TRP1 gene, and apromoter derived from a highly-expressed gene to direct transcription ofa downstream structural sequence. Such promoters can be derived fromoperons encoding glycolytic enzymes such as 3-phosphoglycerate kinase(PGK), a-factor, acid phosphatase, or heat shock proteins, among others.The heterologous structural sequence is assembled in appropriate phasewith translation initiation and termination sequences, and preferably, aleader sequence capable of directing secretion of translated proteininto the periplasmic space or extracellular medium. Optionally, theheterologous sequence can encode a fusion protein including anN-terminal identification peptide imparting desired characteristics,e.g., stabilization or simplified purification of expressed recombinantproduct. Useful expression vectors for bacterial use are constructed byinserting a structural DNA sequence encoding a desired protein togetherwith suitable translation initiation and termination signals in operablereading phase with a functional promoter. The vector will comprise oneor more phenotypic selectable markers and an origin of replication toensure maintenance of the vector and to, if desirable, provideamplification within the host. Suitable prokaryotic hosts fortransformation include E. coli, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonellatyphimurium and various species within the genera Pseudomonas,Streptomyces, and Staphylococcus, although others may also be employedas a matter of choice.

As a representative but non-limiting example, useful expression vectorsfor bacterial use can comprise a selectable marker and bacterial originof replication derived from commercially available plasmids comprisinggenetic elements of the well known cloning vector pBR322 (ATCC 37017).Such commercial vectors include, for example, pKK223-3 (Pharmacia FineChemicals, Uppsala, Sweden) and GEM 1 (Promega Biotec, Madison, Wis.,USA). These pBR322 “backbone” sections are combined with an appropriatepromoter and the structural sequence to be expressed. Followingtransformation of a suitable host strain and growth of the host strainto an appropriate cell density, the selected promoter is induced orderepressed by appropriate means (e.g., temperature shift or chemicalinduction) and cells are cultured for an additional period. Cells aretypically harvested by centrifugation, disrupted by physical or chemicalmeans, and the resulting crude extract retained for furtherpurification.

Included within the scope of the nucleic acid sequences of the inventionare nucleic acid sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions toa fragment of the DNA sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, which fragment isgreater than about 10 bp, preferably 20-50 bp, and even greater than 100bp. In accordance with the invention, polynucleotide sequences whichencode the novel nucleic acids, or functional equivalents thereof, maybe used to generate recombinant DNA molecules that direct the expressionof that nucleic acid, or a functional equivalent thereof, in appropriatehost cells.

The nucleic acid sequences of the invention are further directed tosequences which encode variants of the described nucleic acids. Theseamino acid sequence variants may be prepared by methods known in the artby introducing appropriate nucleotide changes into a native or variantpolynucleotide. There are two variables in the construction of aminoacid sequence variants: the location of the mutation and the nature ofthe mutation. The amino acid sequence variants of the nucleic acids arepreferably constructed by mutating the polynucleotide to give an aminoacid sequence that does not occur in nature. These amino acidalterations can be made at sites that differ in the nucleic acids fromdifferent species (variable positions) or in highly conserved regions(constant regions). Sites at such locations will typically be modifiedin series, e.g., by substituting first with conservative choices (e.g.,hydrophobic amino acid to a different hydrophobic amino acid) and thenwith more distant choices (e.g., hydrophobic amino acid to a chargedamino acid), and then deletions or insertions may be made at the targetsite. Amino acid sequence deletions generally range from about 1 to 30residues, preferably about 1 to 10 residues, and are typicallycontiguous. Amino acid insertions include amino- and/orcarboxyl-terminal fusions ranging in length from one to one hundred ormore residues, as well as intrasequence insertions of single or multipleamino acid residues. Intrasequence insertions may range generally fromabout 1 to 10 amino residues, preferably from 1 to 5 residues. Examplesof terminal insertions include the heterologous signal sequencesnecessary for secretion or for intracellular targeting in different hostcells.

In a preferred method, polynucleotides encoding the novel nucleic acidsare changed via site-directed mutagenesis. This method usesoligonucleotide sequences that encode the polynucleotide sequence of thedesired amino acid variant, as well as a sufficient adjacent nucleotideon both sides of the changed amino acid to form a stable duplex oneither side of the site of being changed. In general, the techniques ofsite-directed mutagenesis are well known to those of skill in the artand this technique is exemplified by publications such as, Edelman etal., DNA 2:183 (1983). A versatile and efficient method for producingsite-specific changes in a polynucleotide sequence was published byZoller and Smith, Nucleic Acids Res. 10:6487-6500 (1982). PCR may alsobe used to create amino acid sequence variants of the novel nucleicacids. When small amounts of template DNA are used as starting material,primer(s) that differs slightly in sequence from the correspondingregion in the template DNA can generate the desired amino acid variant.PCR amplification results in a population of product DNA fragments thatdiffer from the polynucleotide template encoding the polypeptide at theposition specified by the primer. The product DNA fragments replace thecorresponding region in the plasmid and this gives the desired aminoacid variant.

A further technique for generating amino acid variants is the cassettemutagenesis technique described in Wells et al., Gene 34:315 (1985); andother mutagenesis techniques well known in the art, such as, forexample, the techniques in Sambrook et al., supra, and Current Protocolsin Molecular Biology, Ausubel et al. Due to the inherent degeneracy ofthe genetic code, other DNA sequences which encode substantially thesame or a functionally equivalent amino acid sequence may be used in thepractice of the invention for the cloning and expression of these novelnucleic acids. Such DNA sequences include those which are capable ofhybridizing to the appropriate novel nucleic acid sequence understringent conditions.

3. Hosts

The present invention further provides host cells genetically engineeredto contain the polynucleotides of the invention. For example, such hostcells may contain nucleic acids of the invention introduced into thehost cell using known transformation, transfection or infection methods.The present invention still further provides host cells geneticallyengineered to express the polynucleotides of the invention, wherein suchpolynucleotides are in operative association with a regulatory sequenceheterologous to the host cell which drives expression of thepolynucleotides in the cell.

The host cell can be a higher eukaryotic host cell, such as a mammaliancell, a lower eukaryotic host cell, such as a yeast cell, or the hostcell can be a prokaryotic cell, such as a bacterial cell. Introductionof the recombinant construct into the host cell can be effected bycalcium phosphate transfection, DEAE, dextran mediated transfection, orelectroporation (Davis, L. et al., Basic Methods in Molecular Biology(1986)). The host cells containing one of polynucleotides of theinvention, can be used in conventional manners to produce the geneproduct encoded by the isolated fragment (in the case of an ORF) or canbe used to produce a heterologous protein under the control of the EMF.

Any host/vector system can be used to express one or more of the ORFs ofthe present invention. These include, but are not limited to, eukaryotichosts such as HeLa cells, Cv-1 cell, COS cells, and Sf9 cells, as wellas prokaryotic host such as E. coli and B. subtilis. The most preferredcells are those which do not normally express the particular polypeptideor protein or which expresses the polypeptide or protein at low naturallevel. Mature proteins can be expressed in mammalian cells, yeast,bacteria, or other cells under the control of appropriate promoters.Cell-free translation systems can also be employed to produce suchproteins using RNAs derived from the DNA constructs of the presentinvention. Appropriate cloning and expression vectors for use withprokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts are described by Sambrook, et al., inMolecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition, Cold SpringHarbor, New York (1989), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedby reference.

Various mammalian cell culture systems can also be employed to expressrecombinant protein. Examples of mammalian expression systems includethe COS-7 lines of monkey kidney fibroblasts, described by Gluzman, Cell23:175 (1981), and other cell lines capable of expressing a compatiblevector, for example, the C127, 3T3, CHO, HeLa and BHK cell tines.Mammalian expression vectors will comprise an origin of replication, asuitable promoter and also any necessary ribosome binding sites,polyadenylation site, splice donor and acceptor sites, transcriptionaltermination sequences, and 5′ flanking nontranscribed sequences. DNAsequences derived from the SV40 viral genome, for example, SV40 origin,early promoter, enhancer, splice, and polyadenylation sites may be usedto provide the required nontranscribed genetic elements. Recombinantpolypeptides and proteins produced in bacterial culture are usuallyisolated by initial extraction from cell pellets, followed by one ormore salting-out, aqueous ion exchange or size exclusion chromatographysteps. Protein refolding steps can be used, as necessary, in completingconfiguration of the mature protein. Finally, high performance liquidchromatography (HPLC) can be employed for final purification steps.Microbial cells employed in expression of proteins can be disrupted byany convenient method, including freeze-thaw cycling, sonication,mechanical disruption, or use of cell lysing agents.

A number of types of cells may act as suitable host cells for expressionof the protein. Mammalian host cells include, for example, monkey COScells, Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, human kidney 293 cells, humanepidermal A431 cells, human Colo205 cells, 3T3 cells, CV-1 cells, othertransformed primate cell lines, normal diploid cells, cell strainsderived from in vitro culture of primary tissue, primary explants, HeLacells, mouse L cells, BHK, L-60, U937, HaK or Jurkat cells.

Alternatively, it may be possible to produce the protein in lowereukaryotes such as yeast or in prokaryotes such as bacteria. Potentiallysuitable yeast strains include Saccharomyces cerevisiae,Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyces strains, Candida, or any yeaststrain capable of expressing heterologous proteins. Potentially suitablebacterial strains include Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis,Salmonella typhimurium, or any bacterial strain capable of expressingheterologous proteins. If the protein is made in yeast or bacteria, itmay be necessary to modify the protein produced therein, for example byphosphorylation or glycosylation of the appropriate sites, in order toobtain the functional protein. Such covalent attachments may beaccomplished using known chemical or enzymatic methods.

In another embodiment of the present invention, cells and tissues may beengineered to express an endogenous gene comprising the polynucleotidesof the invention under the control of inducible regulatory elements, inwhich case the regulatory sequences of the endogenous gene may bereplaced by homologous recombination. As described herein, genetargeting can be used to replace a gene's existing regulatory regionwith a regulatory sequence isolated from a different gene or a novelregulatory sequence synthesized by genetic engineering methods. Suchregulatory sequences may be comprised of promoters, enhancers,scaffold-attachment regions, negative regulatory elements,transcriptional initiation sites, regulatory protein binding sites orcombinations of said sequences. Alternatively, sequences which affectthe structure or stability of the RNA or protein produced may bereplaced, removed, added, or otherwise modified by targeting, includingpolyadenylation signals. mRNA stability elements, splice sites, leadersequences for enhancing or modifying transport or secretion propertiesof the protein, or other sequences which alter or improve the functionor stability of protein or RNA molecules.

The targeting event may be a simple insertion of the regulatorysequence, placing the gene under the control of the new regulatorysequence, e.g., inserting a new promoter or enhancer or both upstream ofa gene. Alternatively, the targeting event may be a simple deletion of aregulatory element, such as the deletion of a tissue-specific negativeregulatory element. Alternatively, the targeting event may replace anexisting element; for example, a tissue-specific enhancer can bereplaced by an enhancer that has broader or different cell-typespecificity than the naturally occurring elements. Here, the naturallyoccurring sequences are deleted and new sequences are added. In allcases, the identification of the targeting event may be facilitated bythe use of one or more selectable marker genes that are contiguous withthe targeting DNA, allowing for the selection of cells in which theexogenous DNA has integrated into the host cell genome. Theidentification of the targeting event may also be facilitated by the useof one or more marker genes exhibiting the property of negativeselection, such that the negatively selectable marker is linked to theexogenous DNA, but configured such that the negatively selectable markerflanks the targeting sequence, and such that a correct homologousrecombination event with sequences in the host cell genome does notresult in the stable integration of the negatively selectable marker.Markers useful for this purpose include the Herpes Simplex Virusthymidine kinase (TK) gene or the bacterial xanthine-guaninephosphoribosyl-transferase (gpt) gene.

The gene targeting or gene activation techniques which can be used inaccordance with this aspect of the invention are more particularlydescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,071 to Chappel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,461to Sherwin et al.; International Application No. PCT/US92/09627(WO93/09222) by Selden et al., and International Application No.PCT/US90/06436 (WO91/06667) by Skoultchi et al., each of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

4. Polypeptides of the Invention

SEQ ID NO. 1 encodes the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2and 4. An amino acid alignment of SEQ ID NO. 2 with human secretedIL-1Ra, human intracellular IL-1Ra and human IL-1Hy1, as well as rat andpig IL-1Ra, is shown in FIG. 1. SEQ ID NO. 2 displays significant aminoacid homology with human IL-1Ra and IL-1 Hy1 (41.4% and 45% sequenceidentity, respectively, using the Jotan Hein method), and thusrepresents a novel molecule within the IL-1Ra family. The sequencesimilarities among the three proteins and the localization of the IL-1Hy2 gene to chromosome 2, where other proteins of the IL-1 system arelocated, indicate that IL-1 Hy2 is involved in the IL-1 system and mayplay some common biological roles as IL-1Ra and IL-1Hy1, e.g., acting asan IL-1 antagonist. Additional IL-1Hy2 family members can be identifiedusing SEQ ID NO: 1 as a molecular probe.

Interleukin-1 has pleiotropic biological activities many of whichadversely affect the organism, it would be expected that the moleculemust be tightly regulated if it is not to be injurious. Indeed, thereare several reports of Interleukin-1 inhibitors that regulate the actionof Interleukin-1. Interleukin-1 inhibitory activity has been reported inmonocyte conditioned medium, wherein the monocytes are grown on adherentimmune complexes. Arena, W. P., et al., 1985, Journal of Immun.,134:3868. Additionally, an inhibitor has been reported to be presenturine. Seckinger, P., et al., 1987, Journal of Immun., 139:1546. Lastly,a protein inhibitor, purified and cloned, that has interleukin-1receptor antagonist activity has been reported. Hannum, et at., 1990,Nature, 343:336, and Eisenberg, S., et al., 1990, Nature, 343:341.

It is thought that the Interleukin-1 inhibitor present in urine, andwhich has been partially purified and characterized by Seckinger, P. etal., and Seckinger, P., et al., 1987, Journal of Immun., 139:1541 issimilar, if not identical to the cloned Interleukin-1 receptorantagonist reported by Eisenberg, S., et al. (1990), Nature, 343:341;and Carter, D., et al (1990), Nature, 344:633.

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist is a naturally occurring peptidesecreted by macrophages in response to many of the same stimuli whichcause the secretion of Interleukin-1 itself Interleukin-1 receptorantagonist is a naturally occurring antagonist to the cytokines andrecognizes receptors on various cell types and blocks Interleukin-1mediated responses by occupying the receptor. (Wakabayashi et al., FASEBJ 1991;5:338; Okusawa et al. J Clin Invest 1988;81:1162; Ohlsson et al.,Nature 1990;348:550; Aiura, et al. Cytokine 1991;4:498; Fischer et al.Am J Physiol 1991;261:R442). In humans, Interleukin- I receptorantagonist is a naturally occurring group of molecules; three forms havebeen characterized (two glycosylated and one non-glycosylated).

Fischer et al. (Am J Physiol 1991;261 :R442) demonstrated that theadministration of a naturally occurring antagonist to Interleukin-1 willsignificantly blunt the cytokine cascade and improve survival in baboonsgiven a lethal dose of live bacteria. Interleukin-1 receptor antagonistsignificantly attenuates the decrease in mean arterial pressure andcardiac output and improves survival for severe acute pancreatitis.(U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,262) The systemic Interleukin-1 response observedas a result of bacterial sepsis was also diminished significantly,correlating with a decrease in the systemic response to bacterialsepsis.

Studies by Aiura et al. (Cytokine 1991;4:498) have shown thatInterleukin-1 receptor antagonist is protective in a rabbit model ofhypotensive gram-positive septic shock. The administration ofInterleukin-1 receptor antagonist in this animal model has been shown tomaintain mean arterial pressure compared to control, as well asdecreasing lung water and maintaining urine output. This workdemonstrated the role of Interleukin-1 and the protective role ofInterleukin-1 receptor antagonist in gram-positive septic shock.Interleukin-1 is the principal mediator in a patient's clinical responseto multiple different stresses regardless of the etiology (includingacute pancreatitis, sepsis, endotoxin shock, and cytokine inducedshock).

The isolated polypeptides of the invention include, but are not limitedto, a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2 or4 or the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA insert of clonepIL-1Hy2, or a portion thereof corresponding to the full length ormature protein. Polypeptides of the invention also include polypeptideswith IL-1 Hy2 activity that are encoded by (a) the polynucleotide of SEQID NO: 1, or (b) polynucleotides encoding SEQ ID NOS: 2 or 4, or (b)polynucleotides that hybridize to the complement of the polynucleotidesof either (a) or (b) under stringent hybridization conditions.Biologically active or immunologically active variants of the IL-1Raprotein sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4 and “substantial equivalents”thereof (e.g., with 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, typically 95%, moretypically 98% or most typically 99% amino acid identity) that retainIL-1 Hy2 activity, preferably IL-1 antagonist activity, are alsocontemplated. Polypeptides encoded by allelic variants, such as thosedescribed in Example 2 below, may have a similar or increased ordecreased activity compared to the polypeptides of SEQ ID NO:2 or 4.

Protein compositions of the present invention may further comprise anacceptable carrier, such as a hydrophilic, e.g., pharmaceuticallyacceptable, carrier.

The invention also relates to methods for producing a polypeptidecomprising growing a culture of the cells of the invention in a suitableculture medium, and purifying the protein from the culture. For example,the methods of the invention include a process for producing apolypeptide in which a host cell containing a suitable expression vectorthat includes a polynucleotide of the invention is cultured underconditions that allow expression of the encoded polypeptide. Thepolypeptide can be recovered from the culture, conveniently from theculture medium, and further purified. Preferred embodiments includethose in which the protein produced by such process is a full length ormature form of the protein.

The present invention further provides isolated polypeptides encoded bythe nucleic acid fragments of the present invention or by degeneratevariants of the nucleic acid fragments of the present invention. By“degenerate variant” is intended nucleotide fragments which differ froma nucleic acid fragment of the present invention (e.g., an ORF) bynucleotide sequence but, due to the degeneracy of the genetic code,encode an identical polypeptide sequence. Preferred nucleic acidfragments of the present invention are the ORFs that encode proteins. Avariety of methodologies known in the art can be utilized to obtain anyone of the isolated polypeptides or proteins of the present invention.At the simplest level, the amino acid sequence can be synthesized usingcommercially available peptide synthesizers. This is particularly usefulin producing small peptides and fragments of larger polypeptides.Fragments are useful, for example, in generating antibodies against thenative polypeptide. In an alternative method, the polypeptide or proteinis purified from bacterial cells which naturally produce the polypeptideor protein. One skilled in the art can readily follow known methods forisolating polypeptides and proteins in order to obtain one of theisolated polypeptides or proteins of the present invention. Theseinclude, but are not limited to, immunochromatography, HPLC,size-exclusion chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography, andimmuno-affinity chromatography. See, e.g., Scopes, Protein Purification:Principles and Practice, Springer-Verlag (1994); Sambrook, et al., inMolecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual; Ausubel et al., CurrentProtocols in Molecular Biology.

The polypeptides and proteins of the present invention can alternativelybe purified from cells which have been altered to express the desiredpolypeptide or protein. As used herein, a cell is said to be altered toexpress a desired polypeptide or protein when the cell, through geneticmanipulation, is made to produce a polypeptide or protein which itnormally does not produce or which the cell normally produces at a lowerlevel. One skilled in the art can readily adapt procedures forintroducing and expressing either recombinant or synthetic sequencesinto eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells in order to generate a cell whichproduces one of the polypeptides or proteins of the present invention.The purified polypeptides can be used in in vitro binding assays whichare well known in the art to identify molecules which bind to thepolypeptides. These molecules include but are not limited to, for e.g.,small molecules, molecules from combinatorial libraries, antibodies orother proteins. The molecules identified in the binding assay are thentested for antagonist or agonist activity in in vivo tissue culture oranimal models that are well known in the art. In brief, the moleculesare titrated into a plurality of cell cultures or animals and thentested for either cell/animal death or prolonged survival of theanimal/cells.

In addition, the binding molecules may be complexed with toxins, e.g.,ricin or cholera, or with other compounds that are toxic to cells. Thetoxin-binding molecule complex is then targeted to a tumor or other cellby the specificity of the binding molecule for SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4.

The protein of the invention may also be expressed as a product oftransgenic animals, e.g., as a component of the milk of transgenic cows,goats, pigs, or sheep which are characterized by somatic or germ cellscontaining a nucleotide sequence encoding the protein.

The protein may also be produced by known conventional chemicalsynthesis. Methods for constructing the proteins of the presentinvention by synthetic means are known to those skilled in the art. Thesynthetically-constructed protein sequences, by virtue of sharingprimary, secondary or tertiary structural and/or conformationalcharacteristics with proteins may possess biological properties incommon therewith, including protein activity. Thus, they may be employedas biologically active or immunological substitutes for natural,purified proteins in screening of therapeutic compounds and inimmunological processes for the development of antibodies.

The proteins provided herein also include proteins characterized byamino acid sequences similar to those of purified proteins but intowhich modification are naturally provided or deliberately engineered.For example, modifications in the peptide or DNA sequences can be madeby those skilled in the art using known techniques. Modifications ofinterest in the protein sequences may include the alteration,substitution, replacement, insertion or deletion of a selected aminoacid residue in the coding sequence. For example, one or more of thecysteine residues may be deleted or replaced with another amino acid toalter the conformation of the molecule. Techniques for such alteration,substitution, replacement, insertion or deletion are well known to thoseskilled in the art (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,584). Preferably,such alteration, substitution, replacement, insertion or deletionretains the desired activity of the protein.

Other fragments and derivatives of the sequences of proteins which wouldbe expected to retain protein activity in whole or in part and may thusbe useful for screening or other immunological methodologies may also beeasily made by those skilled in the art given the disclosures herein.Such modifications are believed to be encompassed by the presentinvention.

The protein may also be produced by operably linking the isolatedpolynucleotide of he invention to suitable control sequences in one ormore insect expression vectors, and employing an insect expressionsystem. Materials and methods for baculovirus/insect cell expressionsystems are commercially available in kit form from, e.g., Invitrogen,San Diego, Calif. U.S.A. (the MAXBAT™ kit), and such methods are wellknown in the art, as described in Summers and Smith, Texas AgriculturalExperiment Station Bulletin No. 1555 (1987), incorporated herein byreference. As sued herein, an insect cell capable of expressing apolynucleotide of the present invention is “transformed.”

The protein of the invention may be prepared by culturing transformedhost cells under culture conditions suitable to express the recombinantprotein. The resulting expressed protein may then be purified from suchculture (i.e., from culture medium or cell extracts) using knownpurification processes, such as gel filtration and ion exchangechromatography. The purification of the protein may also include anaffinity column containing agents which will bind to the protein; one ormore column steps over such affinity resins as concanavalin A-agarose,HEPARIN-TOYOPEARL™ or CIBACROM BLUE 3GA SEPHAROSE™; one or more stepsinvolving hydrophobic interaction chromatography using such resins asphenyl ether, butyl ether, or propyl ether; or immunoaffinitychromatography.

Alternatively, the protein of the invention may also be expressed in aform which will facilitate purification. For example, it may beexpressed as a fusion protein, such as those of maltose binding protein(MBP), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) or thioredoxin (TRX). Kits forexpression and purification of such fusion proteins are commerciallyavailable from New England BioLab (Beverly, Mass.), Pharmacia(Piscataway, N.J.) and In Vitrogen, respectively. The protein can alsobe tagged with an epitope and subsequently purified by using a specificantibody directed to such epitope. One such epitope (“Flag”) iscommercially available from Kodak (New Haven, Conn.).

Finally, one or more reverse-phase high performance liquidchromatography (RP-HPLC) steps employing hydrophobic RP-HPLC media,e.g., silica gel having pendant methyl or other aliphatic groups, can beemployed to further purity the protein. Some or all of the foregoingpurification steps, in various combinations, can also be employed toprovide a substantially homogeneous isolated recombinant protein. Theprotein thus purified is substantially free of other mammalian proteinsand is defined in accordance with the present invention as an “isolatedprotein.”

The polypeptides of the invention include Interleukin-1 Hy2 analogs orvariants. This embraces fragments of IL-1 Hy2 of the invention, as wellas analogs (variants) of IL-1 Hy2 in which one or more amino acids hasbeen deleted, inserted, or substituted. Analogs of the invention alsoembrace fusions or modifications of IL-1 Hy2 wherein the IL-1 Hy2 oranalog is fused to another moiety or moieties, e.g., targeting moiety oranother therapeutic agent. Such analogs may exhibit improved propertiessuch as activity and/or stability. Examples of moieties which may befused to IL-1 Hy2 or an analog include, for example, targeting moietieswhich provide for the delivery of polypeptide to pancreatic cells, e.g.,antibodies to pancreatic cells, antibodies to immune cells such asT-cells, monocytes, dendritic cells, granulocytes, etc., as well asreceptor and ligands expressed on pancreatic or immune cells. Othermoieties which may be fused to IL-1 Hy2 or an analog include therapeuticagents which are used for treatment, for example, immunosuppressivedrugs such as cyclosporin, SK506, azathioprine, CD3 antibodies andsteroids, or immunostimulants, immune modulators, and other cytokinessuch as alpha or beta interferon.

5. Deposit of Clone

The following clone, pIL-1Hy2 was deposited with the American TypeCulture Collection (ATCC) 10801 University Avenue, Manassas, Va., on May21, 1999 under the terms of the Budapest Treaty. The clone represents aplasmid clone as described in the Examples set forth below.

Microorganism/Clone ATCC Accession No. pIL-1Hy2 PTA-96

6. Uses and Biological Activity

The polynucleotides and proteins of the present invention are expectedto exhibit one or more of the uses or biological activities (includingthose associated with assays cited herein) identified below. Uses oractivities described for proteins of the present invention may beprovided by administration or use of such proteins or by administrationor use of polynucleotides encoding such proteins (such as, for example,in gene therapies or vectors suitable for introduction of DNA).

6.1. Research Uses and Utilities

The polynucleotides provided by the present invention can be used by theresearch community for various purposes. The polynucleotides can be usedto express recombinant protein for analysis, characterization ortherapeutic use; as markers for tissues in which the correspondingprotein is preferentially expressed (either constitutively or at aparticular stage of tissue differentiation or development or in diseasestates); as molecular weight markers on Southern gels; as chromosomemarkers or tags (when labeled) to identify chromosomes or to map relatedgene positions; to compare with endogenous DNA sequences in patients toidentify potential genetic disorders; as probes to hybridize and thusdiscover novel, related DNA sequences; as a source of information toderive PCR primers for genetic fingerprinting; as a probe to“subtract-out” known sequences in the process of discovering other novelpolynucleotides; for selecting and making oligomers for attachment to a“gene chip” or other support, including for examination of expressionpatterns; to raise anti-protein antibodies using DNA immunizationtechniques; and as an antigen to raise anti-DNA antibodies or elicitanother immune response. Where the polynucleotide encodes a proteinwhich binds or potentially binds to another protein (such as, forexample, in a receptor-ligand interaction), the polynucleotide can alsobe used in interaction trap assays (such as, for example, that describedin Gyuris et al., Cell 75:791-803 (1993)) to identify polynucleotidesencoding the other protein with which binding occurs or to identifyinhibitors of the binding interaction.

The proteins provided by the present invention can similarly be used inassay to determine biological activity, including in a panel of multipleproteins for high-throughput screening; to raise antibodies or to elicitanother immune response; as a reagent (including the labeled reagent) inassays designed to quantitatively determine levels of the protein (orits receptor) in biological fluids; as markers for tissues in which thecorresponding protein is preferentially expressed (either constitutivelyor at a particular stage of tissue differentiation or development or ina disease state); and, of course, to isolate correlative receptors orligands. Where the protein binds or potentially binds to another protein(such as, for example, in a receptor-ligand interaction), the proteincan be used to identify the other protein with which binding occurs orto identify inhibitors of the binding interaction. Proteins involved inthese binding interactions can also be used to screen for peptide orsmall molecule inhibitors or agonists of the binding interaction.

Any or all of these research utilities are capable of being developedinto reagent grade or kit format for commercialization as researchproducts.

Methods for performing the uses listed above are well known to thoseskilled in the art. References disclosing such methods include withoutlimitation “Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual”, 2d ed., Cold SpringHarbor Laboratory Press, Sambrook, J., E. F. Fritsch and T. Maniatiseds., 1989, and “Methods in Enzymology: Guide to Molecular CloningTechniques”, Academic Press, Berger, S. L. and A. R. Kimmel eds., 1987.

6.2. Nutritional Uses

Polynucleotides and proteins of the present invention can also be usedas nutritional sources or supplements. Such uses include withoutlimitation use as a protein or amino acid supplement, use as a carbonsource, use as a nitrogen source and use as a source of carbohydrate. Insuch cases the protein or polynucleotide of the invention can be addedto the feed of a particular organism or can be administered as aseparate solid or liquid preparation, such as in the form of powder,pills, solutions, suspensions or capsules. In the case ofmicroorganisms, the protein or polynucleotide of the invention can beadded to the medium in or on which the microorganism is cultured.

6.3. Cytokine and Cell Proliferation/Differentiation Activity

A protein of the present invention may exhibit cytokine, cellproliferation (either inducing or inhibiting) or cell differentiation(either inducing or inhibiting) activity or may induce production ofother cytokines in certain cell populations. A polynucleotide of theinvention can encode a polypeptide exhibiting such attributes. Manyprotein factors discovered to date, including all known cytokines, haveexhibited activity in one or more factor-dependent cell proliferationassays, and hence the assays serve as a convenient confirmation ofcytokine activity. The activity of a protein of the present invention isevidenced by any one of a number of routine factor dependent cellproliferation assays for cell lines including, without limitation, 32D,DA2, DA1G, T10, B9, B9/11, BaF3, MC9/G, M+(preB M+), 2E8, RB5, DA1, 123,T1165, HT2, CTLL2, TF-1, Mo7e and CMK. The activity of a protein of theinvention may, among other means, be measured by the following methods:

Assays for T-cell or thymocyte proliferation include without limitationthose described in: Current Protocols in Immunology, Ed by J. E.Coligan, A. M. Kruisbeek, D. H. Margulies, E. M. Shevach, W. Strober,Pub. Greene Publishing Associates and Wiley-Interscience (Chapter 3, InVitro assays for Mouse Lymphocyte Function 3.1-3.19; Chapter 7,Immunologic studies in Humans); Takai et al., J. Immunol. 137:3494-3500,1986; Bertagnolli et al., J. Immunol. 145:1706-1712, 1990; Bertagnolliet al., Cellular Immunology 133:327-341, 1991; Bertagnolli, et al., I.Immunol. 149:3778-3783, 1992; Bowman et al., I. Immunol. 152:1756-1761,1994.

Assays for cytokine production and/or proliferation of spleen cells,lymph node cells or thymocytes include, without limitation, thosedescribed in: Polyclonal T cell stimulation, Kruisbeek, A. M. andShevach, E. M. In Current Protocols in Immunology. J. E. e.a. Coliganeds. Vol 1 pp. 3.12.1-3.12.14, John Wiley and Sons, Toronto. 1994; andMeasurement of mouse and human interleukin gamma., Schreiber, R. D. InCurrent Protocols in Immunology. J. E. e.a. Coligan eds. Vol 1 pp.6.8.1-6.8.8, John Wiley and Sons, Toronto. 1994.

Assays for proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic andlymphopoietic cells include, without limitation, those described in:Measurement of Human and Murine Interleukin 2 and Interleukin 4,Bottomly, K., Davis, L. S. and Lipsky, P. E. In Current Protocols inImmunology. J. E. e.a. Coligan eds. Vol 1 pp. 6.3.1-6.3.12, John Wileyand Sons, Toronto. 1991; deVries et al., J. Exp. Med. 173:1205-1211,1991; Moreau et al., Nature 336:690-692, 1988; Greenberger et al., Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80:2931-2938, 1983; Measurement of mouse andhuman interleukin 6—Nordan, R. In Current Protocols in Immunology. J. E.e.a. Coligan eds. Vol 1 pp. 6.6.1-6.6.5, John Wiley and Sons, Toronto.1991; Smith et al., Proc. Natl. Aced. Sci. U.S.A. 83:1857-1861, 1986;Measurement of human Interleukin 11—Bennett, F., Giannotti, J., Clark,S. C. and Turner, K. J. In Current Protocols in Immunology. J. E. e.a.Coligan eds. Vol 1 pp. 6.15.1 John Wiley and Sons, Toronto. 1991;Measurement of mouse and human Interleukin 9—Ciarletta, A., Giannotti,J., Clark, S. C. and Turner, K. J. In Current Protocols in Immunology.J. E. e.a. Coligan eds. Vol 1 pp. 6.13.1, John Wiley and Sons, Toronto.1991.

Assays for T-cell clone responses to antigens (which will identify,among others, proteins that affect APC-T cell interactions as well asdirect T-cell effects by measuring proliferation and cytokineproduction) include, without limitation, those described in: CurrentProtocols in Immunology, Ed by J. E. Coligan, A. M. Kruisbeek, D. H.Margulies, E. M. Shevach, W Strober, Pub. Greene Publishing Associatesand Wiley-Interscience (Chapter 3, In Vitro assays for Mouse LymphocyteFunction; Chapter 6, Cytokines and their cellular receptors; Chapter 7,Immunologic studies in Humans); Weinberger et al., Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA 77:6091-6095, 1980; Weinberger et al., Eur. J. Immun.11:405-411, 1981; Takai et al., J. Immunol. 137:3494-3500, 1986; Takaiet al., J. Immunol. 140:508-512, 1988.

6.4. Immune Stimulating or Suppressing Activity

A protein of the present invention may also exhibit immune stimulatingor immune suppressing activity, including without limitation theactivities for which assays are described herein. A polynucleotide ofthe invention can encode a polypeptide exhibiting such activities. Aprotein may be useful in the treatment of various immune deficienciesand disorders (including severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)), e.g.,in regulating (up or down) growth and proliferation of T and/or Blymphocytes, as well as effecting the cytolytic activity of NK cells andother cell populations. These immune deficiencies may be genetic or becaused by viral (e.g., HIV) as well as bacterial or fungal infections,or may result from autoimmune disorders. More specifically, infectiousdiseases causes by viral, bacterial, fungal or other infection may betreatable using a protein of the present invention, including infectionsby HIV, hepatitis viruses, herpesviruses, mycobacteria, Leishmania spp.,malaria spp. and various fungal infections such as candidiasis. Ofcourse, in this regard, a protein of the present invention may also beuseful where a boost to the immune system generally may be desirable,i.e., in the treatment of cancer.

Autoimmune disorders which may be treated using a protein of the presentinvention include, for example, connective tissue disease, multiplesclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis,autoimmune pulmonary inflammation, Guillain-Barre syndrome, autoimmunethyroiditis, insulin dependent diabetes mellitis, myasthenia gravis,graft-versus-host disease and autoimmune inflammatory eye disease. Sucha protein of the present invention may also to be useful in thetreatment of allergic reactions and conditions, such as asthma(particularly allergic asthma) or other respiratory problems. Otherconditions, in which immune suppression is desired (including, forexample, organ transplantation), may also be treatable using a proteinof the present invention.

Using the proteins of the invention it may also be possible to modulateimmune responses, in a number of ways. Down regulation may be in theform of inhibiting or blocking an immune response already in progress ormay involve preventing the induction of an immune response. Thefunctions of activated T cells may be inhibited by suppressing T cellresponses or by inducing specific tolerance in T cells, or both.Immunosuppression of T cell responses is generally an active,non-antigen-specific, process which requires continuous exposure of theT cells to the suppressive agent. Tolerance, which involves inducingnon-responsiveness or anergy in T cells, is distinguishable fromimmunosuppression in that it is generally antigen-specific and persistsafter exposure to the tolerizing agent has ceased. Operationally,tolerance can be demonstrated by the lack of a T cell response uponreexposure to specific antigen in the absence of the tolerizing agent.

Down regulating or preventing one or more antigen functions (includingwithout limitation B lymphocyte antigen functions (such as, for example,B7)), e.g., preventing high level lymphokine synthesis by activated Tcells, will be useful in situations of tissue, skin and organtransplantation and in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). For example,blockage of T cell function should result in reduced tissue destructionin tissue transplantation. Typically, in tissue transplants, rejectionof the transplant is initiated through its recognition as foreign by Tcells, followed by an immune reaction that destroys the transplant. Theadministration of a molecule which inhibits or blocks interaction of aB7 lymphocyte antigen with its natural ligand(s) on immune cells (suchas a soluble, monomeric form of a peptide having B7-2 activity alone orin conjunction with a monomeric form of a peptide having an activity ofanother B lymphocyte antigen (e.g., B7-1, B7-3) or blocking antibody),prior to transplantation can lead to the binding of the molecule to thenatural ligand(s) on the immune cells without transmitting thecorresponding costimulatory signal. Blocking B lymphocyte antigenfunction in this matter prevents cytokine synthesis by immune cells,such as T cells, and thus acts as an immunosuppressant. Moreover, thelack of costimulation may also be sufficient to anergize the T cells,thereby inducing tolerance in a subject. Induction of long-termtolerance by B lymphocyte antigen-blocking reagents may avoid thenecessity of repeated administration of these blocking reagents. Toachieve sufficient immunosuppression or tolerance in a subject, it mayalso be necessary to block the function of a combination of B lymphocyteantigens.

The efficacy of particular blocking reagents in preventing organtransplant rejection or GVHD can be assessed using animal models thatare predictive of efficacy in humans. Examples of appropriate systemswhich can be used include allogeneic cardiac grafts in rats andxenogeneic pancreatic islet cell grafts in mice, both of which have beenused to examine the immunosuppressive effects of CTLA4Ig fusion proteinsin vivo as described in Lenschow et al., Science 257:789-792 (1992) andTurka et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA, 89:11102-11105 (1992). Inaddition, murine models of GVHD (see Paul ed., Fundamental Immunology,Raven Press, New York, 1989, pp. 846-847) can be used to determine theeffect of blocking B lymphocyte antigen function in vivo on thedevelopment of that disease.

Blocking antigen function may also be therapeutically useful fortreating autoimmune diseases. Many autoimmune disorders are the resultof inappropriate activation of T cells that are reactive against selftissue and which promote the production of cytokines and autoantibodiesinvolved in the pathology of the diseases. Preventing the activation ofautoreactive T cells may reduce or eliminate disease symptoms.Administration of reagents which block costimulation of T cells bydisrupting receptor:ligand interactions of B lymphocyte antigens can beused to inhibit T cell activation and prevent production ofautoantibodies or T cell-derived cytokines which may be involved in thedisease process. Additionally, blocking reagents may induceantigen-specific tolerance of autoreactive T cells which could lead tolong-term relief from the disease. The efficacy of blocking reagents inpreventing or alleviating autoimmune disorders can be determined using anumber of well-characterized animal models of human autoimmune diseases.Examples include murine experimental autoimmune encephalitis, systemiclupus erythmatosis in MRL/lpr/lpr mice or NZB hybrid mice, murineautoimmune collagen arthritis, diabetes mellitus in NOD mice and BBrats, and murine experimental myasthenia gravis (see Paul ed.,Fundamental Immunology, Raven Press, New York, 1989, pp. 840-856).

Upregulation of an antigen function (preferably a B lymphocyte antigenfunction), as a means of up regulating immune responses, may also beuseful in therapy. Upregulation of immune responses may be in the formof enhancing an existing immune response or eliciting an initial immuneresponse. For example, enhancing an immune response through stimulatingB lymphocyte antigen function may be useful in cases of viral infection.In addition, systemic viral diseases such as influenza, the common cold,and encephalitis might be alleviated by the administration ofstimulatory forms of B lymphocyte antigens systemically.

Alternatively, anti-viral immune responses may be enhanced in aninfected patient by removing T cells from the patient, costimulating theT cells in vitro with viral antigen-pulsed APSE either expressing apeptide of the present invention or together with a stimulatory form ofa soluble peptide of the present invention and reintroducing the invitro activated T cells into the patient. Another method of enhancinganti-viral immune responses would be to isolate infected cells from apatient, transfect them with a nucleic acid encoding a protein of thepresent invention as described herein such that the cells express all ora portion of the protein on their surface, and reintroduce thetransfected cells into the patient. The infected cells would now becapable of delivering a costimulatory signal to, and thereby activate, Tcells in vivo.

The presence of the peptide of he present invention having the activityof a B lymphocyte antigen(s) on the surface of he tumor cell providesthe necessary costimulation signal to T cells to induce a T cellmediated immune response against the transfected tumor cells. Inaddition, tumor cells which lack MHC class I or MHC class II molecules,or which fail to reexpress sufficient mounts of MHC class I or MHC classII molecules, can be transfected with nucleic acid encoding all or aportion of (e.g., a cytoplasmic-domain truncated portion) of an MHCclass I α chain protein and β₂ microglobulin protein or an MHC class IIalpha chain protein and an MHC II β chain protein to thereby express MHCclass I or MHC class II proteins on the cell surface. Expression of theappropriate class I or class II MHC in conjunction with a peptide havingthe activity of a B lymphocyte antigen (e.g., B7-1, B7-2, B7-3) inducesa T cell mediated immune response against the transfected tumor cell.Optionally, a gene encoding an antisense construct which blocksexpression of an MHC class II associated protein, such as the invariantchain, can also be cotransfected with a DNA encoding a peptide havingthe activity of a B lymphocyte antigen to promote presentation of tumorassociated antigens and induce tumor specific immunity. Thus, theinduction of a T cell mediated immune response in a human subject may besufficient to overcome tumor-specific tolerance in the subject.

The activity of a protein of the invention may, among other means, bemeasured by the following methods:

Suitable assays for thymocyte or splenocyte cytotoxicity include,without limitation, those described in: Current Protocols in Immunology,Ed by J. E. Coligan, A. M. Kruisbeek, D. H. Margulies, E. M. Shevach, W.Strober, Pub. Greene Publishing Associates and Wiley-Interscience(Chapter 3, In Vitro assays for Mouse Lymphocyte Function 3.1-3.19;Chapter 7, Immunologic studies in Humans); Herrmann et al., Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 78:2488-2492, 1981; Herrmann et al., J. Immunol.128:1968-1974, 1982; Handa et al., J. Immunol. 135:1564-1572, 1985;Takai et al., I. Immunol. 137:3494-3500, 1986; Takai et al., J. Immunol.140:508-512, 1988; Herrmann et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA78:2488-2492, 1981; Herrmann et al., J. Immunol. 128:1968-1974, 1982;Handa et al., J. Immunol. 135:1564-1572, 1985; Takai et al., J. Immunol.137:3494-3500, 1986; Bowmanet al., J. Virology 61:1992-1998; Takai etal., J. Immunol. 140:508-512, 1988; Bertagnolli et al., CellularImmunology 133:327-341, 1991; Brown et al., J. Immunol. 153:3079-3092,1994.

Assays for T-cell-dependent immunoglobulin responses and isotypeswitching (which will identify, among others, proteins that modulateT-cell dependent antibody responses and that affect Th1/Th2 profiles)include, without limitation, those described in: Maliszewski, J.Immunol. 144:3028-3033, 1990; and Assays for B cell function: In vitroantibody production, Mond, J. J. and Brunswick, M. In Current Protocolsin Immunology. J. E. e.a. Coligan eds. Vol 1 pp. 3.8.1-3.8.16, JohnWiley and Sons, Toronto. 1994.

Mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) assays (which will identify, amongothers, proteins that generate predominantly Th1 and CTL responses)include, without limitation, those described in: Current Protocols inImmunology, Ed by J. E. Coligan, A. M. Kruisbeek, D. H. Margulies, E. M.Shevach, W. Strober, Pub. Greene Publishing Associates andWiley-Interscience (Chapter 3, In Vitro assays for Mouse LymphocyteFunction 3.1-3.19; Chapter 7, Immunologic studies in Humans); Takai etal., J. Immunol. 137:3494-3500, 1986; Takai et al., J. Immunol.140:508-512, 1988; Bertagnolli et al., J. Immunol. 149:3778-3783, 1992.

Dendritic cell-dependent assays (which will identify, among others,proteins expressed by dendritic cells that activate naive T-cells)include, without limitation, those described in: Guery et al., J.Immunol. 134:536-544, 1995; Inaba et al., Journal of ExperimentalMedicine 173:549-559, 1991; Macatonia et al., Journal of Immunology154:5071-5079, 1995; Porgador et al., Journal of Experimental Medicine182:255-260, 1995; Nair et al., Journal of Virology 67:4062-4069, 1993;Huang et al., Science 264:961-965, 1994; Macatonia et al., Journal ofExperimental Medicine 169:1255-1264, 1989; Bhardwaj et al., Journal ofClinical Investigation 94:797-807, 1994; and Inaba et al., Journal ofExperimental Medicine 172:631-640, 1990.

Assays for lymphocyte survival/apoptosis (which will identify, amongothers, proteins that prevent apoptosis after superantigen induction andproteins that regulate lymphocyte homeostasis) include, withoutlimitation, those described in: Darzynkiewicz et al., Cytometry13:795-808, 1992; Gorczyca et al., Leukemia 7:659-670, 1993; Gorczyca etal., Cancer Research 53:1945-1951, 1993; Itoh et al., Cell 66:233-243,1991; Zacharchuk, Journal of Immunology 145:4037-4045, 1990; Zamai etal., Cytometry 14:891-897, 1993; Gorczyca et al., International Journalof Oncology 1:639-648, 1992.

Assays for proteins that influence early steps of T-cell commitment anddevelopment include, without limitation, those described in: Antica etal., Blood 84:111-117, 1994; Fine et al., Cellular Immunology155:111-122, 1994; Galy et al., Blood 85:2770-2778, 1995; Toki et al.,Proc. Nat. Acad Sci. USA 88:7548-7551, 1991.

6.5. Hematopoiesis Regulating Activity

A protein of the present invention may be useful in regulation ofhematopoiesis and, consequently, in the treatment of myeloid or lymphoidcell deficiencies. Even marginal biological activity in support ofcolony forming cells or of factor-dependent cell lines indicatesinvolvement in regulating hematopoiesis, e.g. in supporting the growthand proliferation of erythroid progenitor cells alone or in combinationwith other cytokines, thereby indicating utility, for example, intreating various anemias or for use in conjunction withirradiation/chemotherapy to stimulate the production of erythroidprecursors and/or erythroid cells; in supporting the growth andproliferation of myeloid cells such as granulocytes andmonocytes/macrophages (i.e., traditional CSF activity) useful, forexample, in conjunction with chemotherapy to prevent or treat consequentmyelo-suppression; in supporting the growth and proliferation ofmegakaryocytes and consequently of platelets thereby allowing preventionor treatment of various platelet disorders such as thrombocytopenia, andgenerally for use in place of or complimentary to platelet transfusions;and/or in supporting the growth and proliferation of hematopoietic stemcells which are capable of maturing to any and all of theabove-mentioned hematopoietic cells and therefore find therapeuticutility in various stem cell disorders (such as those usually treatedwith transplantation, including, without limitation, aplastic anemia andparoxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria), as well as in repopulating thestem cell compartment post irradiation/chemotherapy, either in-vivo orex-vivo (i.e., in conjunction with bone marrow transplantation or withperipheral progenitor cell transplantation (homologous or heterologous))as normal cells or genetically manipulated for gene therapy.

The activity of a protein of the invention may, among other means, bemeasured by the following methods:

Suitable assays for proliferation and differentiation of varioushematopoietic lines are cited above.

Assays for embryonic stem cell differentiation (which will identify,among others, proteins that influence embryonic differentiationhematopoiesis) include, without limitation, those described in:Johansson et al. Cellular Biology 15:141-151, 1995; Keller et al.,Molecular and Cellular Biology 13:473-486, 1993; McClanahan et al.,Blood 81:2903-2915, 1993.

Assays for stem cell survival and differentiation (which will identify,among others, proteins that regulate lympho-hematopoiesis) include,without limitation, those described in: Methylcellulose colony formingassays, Freshney, M. G. In Culture of Hematopoietic Cells. R. I.Freshney, et al. eds. Vol pp. 265-268, Wiley-Liss, Inc., New York, N.Y.1994; Hirayama et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:5907-5911, 1992;Primitive hematopoietic colony forming cells with high proliferativepotential, McNiece, I. K. and Briddell, R. A. In Culture ofHematopoietic Cells. R. I. Freshney, et al. eds. Vol pp. 23-39,Wiley-Liss, Inc., New York, N.Y. 1994; Neben et al., ExperimentalHematology 22:353-359, 1994; Cobblestone area forming cell assay,Ploemacher, R. E. In Culture of Hematopoietic Cells. R. I. Freshney, etal. eds. Vol pp. 1-21, Wiley-Liss, Inc., New York, N.Y. 1994; Long termbone marrow cultures in the presence of stromal cells, Spooncer, E.,Dexter, M. and Allen, T. In Culture of Hematopoietic Cells. R. I.Freshney, et al. eds. Vol pp. 163-179, Wiley-Liss, Inc., New York, N.Y.1994; Long term culture initiating cell assay, Sutherland, H. J. InCulture of Hematopoietic Cells. R. I. Freshney, et al. eds. Vol pp.139-162, Wiley-Liss, Inc., New York, N.Y. 1994.

6.6. Tissue Growth Activity

A protein of the present invention also may have utility in compositionsused for bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament and/or nerve tissue growth orregeneration, as well as for wound healing and tissue repair andreplacement, and in the treatment of burns, incisions and ulcers.

A protein of the present invention, which induces cartilage and/or bonegrowth in circumstances where bone is not normally formed, hasapplication in the healing of bone fractures and cartilage damage ordefects in humans and other animals. Such a preparation employing aprotein of the invention may have prophylactic use in closed as well asopen fracture reduction and also in the improved fixation of artificialjoints. De novo bone formation induced by an osteogenic agentcontributes to the repair of congenital, trauma induced, or oncologicresection induced craniofacial defects, and also is useful in cosmeticplastic surgery.

A protein of this invention may also be used in the treatment ofperiodontal disease, and in other tooth repair processes. Such agentsmay provide an environment to attract bone-forming cells, stimulategrowth of bone-forming cells or induce differentiation of progenitors ofbone-forming cells. A protein of the invention may also be useful in thetreatment of osteoporosis or osteoarthritis, such as through stimulationof bone and/or cartilage repair or by blocking inflammation or processesof tissue destruction (collagenase activity, osteoclast activity, etc.)mediated by inflammatory processes.

Another category of tissue regeneration activity that may beattributable to the protein of the present invention is tendon/ligamentformation. A protein of the present invention, which inducestendon/ligament-like tissue or other tissue formation in circumstanceswhere such tissue is not normally formed, has application in the healingof tendon or ligament tears, deformities and other tendon or ligamentdefects in humans and other animals. Such a preparation employing atendon/ligament-like tissue inducing protein may have prophylactic usein preventing damage to tendon or ligament tissue, as well as use in theimproved fixation of tendon or ligament to bone or other tissues, and inrepairing defects to tendon or ligament tissue. De novotendon/ligament-like tissue formation induced by a composition of thepresent invention contributes to the repair of congenital, traumainduced, or other tendon or ligament defects of other origin, and isalso useful in cosmetic plastic surgery for attachment or repair oftendons or ligaments. The compositions of the present invention mayprovide environment to attract tendon- or ligament-forming cells,stimulate growth of tendon- or ligament-forming cells, inducedifferentiation of progenitors of tendon- or ligament-forming cells, orinduce growth of tendon/ligament cells or progenitors ex vivo for returnin vivo to effect tissue repair. The compositions of the invention mayalso be useful in the treatment of tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndromeand other tendon or ligament defects. The compositions may also includean appropriate matrix and/or sequestering agent as a carrier as is wellknown in the art.

The protein of the present invention may also be useful forproliferation of neural cells and for regeneration of nerve and braintissue, i.e. for the treatment of central and peripheral nervous systemdiseases and neuropathies, as well as mechanical and traumaticdisorders, which involve degeneration, death or trauma to neural cellsor nerve tissue. More specifically, a protein may be used in thetreatment of diseases of the peripheral nervous system, such asperipheral nerve injuries, peripheral neuropathy and localizedneuropathies, and central nervous system diseases, such as Alzheimer's,Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateralsclerosis, and Shy-Drager syndrome. Further conditions which may betreated in accordance with the present invention include mechanical andtraumatic disorders, such as spinal cord disorders, head trauma andcerebrovascular diseases such as stroke. Peripheral neuropathiesresulting from chemotherapy or other medical therapies may also betreatable using a protein of the invention.

Proteins of the invention may also be useful to promote better or fasterclosure of non-healing wounds, including without limitation pressureulcers, ulcers associated with vascular insufficiency, surgical andtraumatic wounds, and the like.

It is expected that a protein of the present invention may also exhibitactivity for generation or regeneration of other tissues, such as organs(including, for example, pancreas, liver, intestine, kidney, skin,endothelium), muscle (smooth, skeletal or cardiac) and vascular(including vascular endothelium) tissue, or for promoting the growth ofcells comprising such tissues. Part of the desired effects may be byinhibition or modulation of fibrotic scarring to allow normal tissue toregenerate. A protein of the invention may also exhibit angiogenicactivity.

A protein of the present invention may also be useful for gut protectionor regeneration and treatment of lung or liver fibrosis, reperfusioninjury in various tissues, and conditions resulting from systemiccytokine damage.

A protein of the present invention may also be useful for promoting orinhibiting differentiation of tissues described above from precursortissues or cells; or for inhibiting the growth of tissues describedabove.

The activity of a protein of the invention may, among other means, bemeasured by the following methods:

Assays for tissue generation activity include, without limitation, thosedescribed in: International Patent Publication No. WO95/16035 (bone,cartilage, tendon); International Patent Publication No. WO95/05846(nerve, neuronal); International Patent Publication No. WO91/07491(skin, endothelium).

Assays for wound healing activity include, without limitation, thosedescribed in: Winter, Epidermal Wound Healing, pps. 71-112 (Maibach, H.I. and Rovee, D. T., eds.), Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc., Chicago,as modified by Eaglstein and Mertz, J. Invest. Dermatol 71:382-84(1978).

6.7. Activin/Inhibin Activity

A protein of the present invention may also exhibit activin- orinhibin-related activities. A polynucleotide of the invention may encodea polypeptide exhibiting such characteristics. Inhibins arecharacterized by their ability to inhibit the release of folliclestimulating hormone (FSH), while activins and are characterized by theirability to stimulate the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).Thus, a protein of the present invention, alone or in heterodimers witha member of the inhibin α-family, may be useful as a contraceptive basedon the ability of inhibins to decrease fertility in female mammals anddecrease spermatogenesis in male mammals. Administration of sufficientamounts of other inhibins can induce infertility in these mammals.Alternatively, the protein of the invention, as a homodimer or as aheterodimer with other protein subunits of the inhibin-β group, may beuseful as a fertility inducing therapeutic, based upon the ability ofactivin molecules in stimulating FSH release from cells of the anteriorpituitary. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,885. A protein of theinvention may also be useful for advancement of the onset of fertilityin sexually immature mammals, so as to increase the lifetimereproductive performance of domestic animals such as cows, sheep andpigs.

The activity of a protein of the invention may, among other means, bemeasured by the following methods:

Assays for activin/inhibin activity include, without limitation, thosedescribed in: Vale et al., Endocrinology 91:562-572, 1972; Ling et al.,Nature 321:779-782, 1986; Vale et al., Nature 321:776-779, 1986; Masonet al., Nature 318:659-663, 1985; Forage et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 83:3091-3095, 1986.

6.8. Chemotactic/Chemokinetic Activity

A protein of the present invention may have chemotactic or chemokineticactivity (e.g., act as a chemokine) for mammalian cells, including, forexample, monocytes, fibroblasts, neutrophils, T-cells, mast cells,eosinophils, epithelial and/or endothelial cells. A polynucleotide ofthe invention can encode a polypeptide exhibiting such attributes.Chemotactic and chemokinetic proteins can be used to mobilize or attracta desired cell population to a desired site of action. Chemotactic orchemokinetic proteins provide particular advantages in treatment ofwounds and other trauma to tissues, as well as in treatment of localizedinfections. For example, attraction of lymphocytes, monocytes orneutrophils to tumors or sites of infection may result in improvedimmune responses against the tumor or infecting agent.

A protein or peptide has chemotactic activity for a particular cellpopulation if it can stimulate, directly or indirectly, the directedorientation or movement of such cell population. Preferably, the proteinor peptide has the ability to directly stimulate directed movement ofcells. Whether a particular protein has chemotactic activity for apopulation of cells can be readily determined by employing such proteinor peptide in any known assay for cell chemotaxis.

The activity of a protein of the invention may, among other means, bemeasured by the following methods:

Assays for chemotactic activity (which will identify proteins thatinduce or prevent chemotaxis) consist of assays that measure the abilityof a protein to induce the migration of cells across a membrane as wellas the ability of a protein to induce the adhesion of one cellpopulation to another cell population. Suitable assays for movement andadhesion include, without limitation, those described in: CurrentProtocols in Immunology, Ed by J. E. Coligan, A. M. Kruisbeck, D. H.Marguiless, E. M Shevach, W. Strober, Pub. Greene Publishing Associatesand Wiley-Interscience (Chapter 6.12, Measurement of alpha and betaChemokines 6.12.13 6.12.28); Taub et al J. Clin. Invest. 95:1370-1376,1995; Lind et al. APMIS 103:140-146, 1995; Muller et al. Eur. J.Immunol. 25:1744-1748; Gruber et al. J. of Immunol. 152:5860-5867, 1994;Johnson et al. J. of Immunol. 153:1762-1768, 1994.

6.9. Hemostatic and Thrombolytic Activity

A protein of the invention may also exhibit hemostatic or thrombolyticactivity. A polynucleotide of the invention can encode a polypeptideexhibiting such attributes. Such a protein is expected to be useful intreatment of various coagulation disorders (including hereditarydisorders, such as hemophilias) or to enhance coagulation and otherhemostatic events in treating wounds resulting from trauma, surgery orother causes. A protein of the invention may also be useful fordissolving or inhibiting formation of thromboses and for treatment andprevention of conditions resulting therefrom (such as, for example,infarction of cardiac and central nervous system vessels (e.g., stroke).

The activity of a protein of the invention may, among other means, bemeasured by the following methods:

Assay for hemostatic and thrombolytic activity include, withoutlimitation, those described in: Linet et al., J. Clin. Pharmacol.26:131-140, 1986; Burdick et al., Thrombosis Res. 45:413-419, 1987;Humphrey et al., Fibrinolysis 5:71-79 (1991); Schaub, Prostaglandins35:467-474, 1988.

6.10. Receptor/Ligand Activity

A protein of the present invention may also demonstrate activity asreceptors, receptor ligands or inhibitors or agonists of receptor/ligandinteractions. A polynucleotide of the invention can encode a polypeptideexhibiting such characteristics. Examples of such receptors and ligandsinclude, without limitation, cytokine receptors and their ligands,receptor kinases and their ligands, receptor phosphatases and theirligands, receptors involved in cell-cell interactions and their ligands(including without limitation, cellular adhesion molecules (such asselectins, integrins and their ligands) and receptor/ligand pairsinvolved in antigen presentation, antigen recognition and development ofcellular and humoral immune responses). Receptors and ligands are alsouseful for screening of potential peptide or small molecule inhibitorsof the relevant receptor/ligand interaction. A protein of the presentinvention (including, without limitation, fragments of receptors andligands) may themselves be useful as inhibitors of receptor/ligandinteractions.

The activity of a protein of the invention may, among other means, bemeasured by the following methods:

Suitable assays for receptor-ligand activity include without limitationthose described in: Current Protocols in Immunology, Ed by J. E.Coligan, A. M. Kruisbeek, D. H. Margulies, E. M. Shevach, W. Strober,Pub. Greene Publishing Associates and Wiley-Interscience (Chapter 7.28,Measurement of Cellular Adhesion under static conditions7.28.1-7.28.22), Takai et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:6864-6868,1987; Bierer et al., J. Exp. Med. 168:1145-1156, 1988; Rosenstein etal., J. Exp. Med. 169:149-160 1989; Stoltenborg et al., J. Immunol.Methods 175:59-68, 1994; Stitt et al., Cell 80:661-670, 1995.

By way of example, the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention may beused as a ligand for a cytokine receptor thereby modulating (i.e.,enhancing or inhibiting) the biological activity of that receptor.Examples of cytokine receptors that may be used include, but are notlimited to, the Interleukin-1 Type I or Type II Receptors. Whether theIL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention exhibit agonist, partial agonist,antagonist, or partial antagonist activity for a particular receptor,such as a cytokine receptor, in a particular cell type can be determinedby conventional techniques known to those skilled in the art, such asthose described below in sections 6.11.1 and 6.11.2 and in the Examplesbelow. In one embodiment, one or more cells expressing a cytokinereceptor (e.g., Interleukin-1 Type I or Type II Receptors) are contactedwith the protein of the invention. Examples of cells that may becontacted with the protein of the invention include, but are not limitedto, mammalian cells such as fibroblasts and T-cells. Preferably thenovel protein of the invention acts as an antagonist for a cytokinereceptor (e.g.-the Interleukin-I Receptor) so that the biologicalactivities of that receptor are inhibited.

Studies characterizing drugs or proteins as agonist or antagonist orpartial agonists a partial antagonist require the use of other proteinsas competing ligands. The polypeptides of the present invention areexpected to exhibit an affinity for Interleukin-1 Receptor. Thus, thepolypeptides of the present invention may be used, for example, ascompetitors in assays involving Interleukin-1 Receptors. Alternatively,the polypeptides of the invention may be labelled by being coupled toradioisotopes, calorimetric molecules or a toxin molecules byconventional methods. (“Guide to Protein Purification” Murray P.Deutscher (ed) Methods in Enzymology Vol. 182 (1990) Academic Press,Inc. San Diego) and used in both in vivo and in vitro to bind to theInterleukin-1 Receptor. Examples of radioisotopes include, but are notlimited to, tritium and carbon-14. Examples of colorimetric moleculesinclude, but are not limited to, fluorescent molecules such asfluorescamine, or rhodamine or other calorimetric molecules. Examples oftoxins include, but are not limited, to ricin. By way of example, theproteins coupled to such molecules are useful in studies involving invivo or in vitro metabolism of the Interleukin-1 Receptor.

6.11 Drug Screening with Interleukin-1 Hy2 Polypeptides

This invention is particularly useful for screening compounds by usingthe IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention, particularly bindingfragments, in any of a variety of drug screening techniques. Thepolypeptides employed in such a test may either be free in solution,affixed to a solid support, borne on a cell surface or locatedintracellularly. One method of drug screening utilizes eukaryotic orprokaryotic host cells which are stably transformed with recombinantnucleic acids expressing the desired IL-1 Hy2 polypeptide. Drugs arescreened against such transformed cells in competitive binding assays.Such cells, either in viable or fixed form, can be used for standardbinding assays. One may measure, for example, the formation of complexesbetween IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention and the agent beingtested or examine the diminution in complex formation between the IL-1Hy2 polypeptides and an appropriate cell line, which are well known inthe art.

6.11.1 Assay for Anti-Interleukin-1 Receptor Activity

In one embodiment, the Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist activity of thepolypeptides of the invention is determined using a method that involve(1) forming a mixture comprising Interleukin-1, the Interleukin-1receptor, and the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention and/or itsagonists and antagonists (or agonist or antagonist drug candidates)and/or antibodies specific for the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of theinvention; (2) incubating the mixture under conditions whereby, but forthe presence of said IL-1 Hy2 polypeptide of the invention and/or itsagonists and antagonists (or agonist or antagonist drug candidates)and/or antibodies specific for the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of theinvention, the Interleukin-1 binds to the Interleukin-1 receptor; and(3) detecting the presence or absence of specific binding ofInterleukin-1 to the Interleukin-1 receptor.

6.11.2 Assay for Antagonists and Agonists

Human HepG2 cells are incubated at 37 degree(s) C. for 18-24 hours inserum-free Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium. Separate monolayers ofcells are incubated in the same medium supplemented with Interleukin-1at various concentrations and in the same medium supplemented with aIL-1 Hy2 polypeptide of the invention at various concentrations.

Monolayers are rinsed vigorously with isotonic buffer and incubated in(35-S) methionine, 250 mu ci/ml methionine-free medium and pulsed for aperiod of 15-30 minutes to assess net synthesis. Cell culture fluid isdiscarded and monolayers are again rinsed and resuspended in cell lysisbuffer. The newly synthesized radiolabelled hepatic proteins in thesecell lysates are detected by immunoprecipitation, SDS-PAGE andfluorography.

6.12. Anti-Inflammatory Activity

Proteins of the present invention may also exhibit anti-inflammatoryactivity. The anti-inflammatory activity may be achieved by providing astimulus to cells involved in the inflammatory response, by inhibitingor promoting cell-cell interactions (such as, for example, celladhesion), by inhibiting or promoting chemotaxis of cells involved inthe inflammatory process, inhibiting or promoting cell extravasation, orby stimulating or suppressing production of other factors which moredirectly inhibit or promote an inflammatory response. Proteinsexhibiting such activities can be used to treat inflammatory conditionsincluding chronic or acute conditions), including without limitationintimation associated with infection (such as septic shock, sepsis orsystemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)), ischemia-reperfusioninjury, endotoxin lethality, arthritis, complement-mediated hyperacuterejection, nephritis, cytokine or chemokine-induced lung injury,inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease or resulting from overproduction of cytokines such as TNF or IL-1. Proteins of the inventionmay also be useful to treat anaphylaxis and hypersensitivity to anantigenic substance or material. In particular, the IL-1 Hy2polypeptides of this invention may be utilized to prevent or treatcondition such as, but not limited to, utilized, for example, as part ofmethods for the prevention and/or treatment of disorders involvingsepsis, acute pancreatitis, endotoxic shock, cytokine induced shock,rheumatoid arthritis, chronic inflamatory arthitis, pancreatic celldamage from diabetes mellitus type 1, graft versus host disease,inflamatory bowel disease, inflamation associated with pulmonarydisease, other autoimmune disease or inflamatory disease, anantiproliferative agent such as for acute or chronic mylegenous leukemiaor in the prevention of premature labor secondary to intrauterineinfections.

6.13. Leukemias

Leukemias and related disorders may be treated or prevented byadministration of a therapeutic that promotes or inhibits function ofthe polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention. Such leukemiasand related disorders include but are not limited to acute leukemia,acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myelocytic leukemia, myeloblastic,promyelocytic, myelomonocytic, monocytic, erythroleukemia, chronicleukemia, chronic myelocytic (granulocytic) leukemia and chroniclymphocytic leukemia (for a review of such disorders, see Fishman etal., 1985, Medicine, 2d Ed., J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia).

6.14. Nervous System Disorders

Nervous system disorders, involving cell types which can be tested forefficacy of intervention with compounds that modulate the activity ofthe polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention, and which canbe treated upon thus observing an indication of therapeutic utility,include but are not limited to nervous system injuries, and diseases ordisorders which result in either a disconnection of axons, a diminutionor degeneration of neurons, or demyelination. Nervous system lesionswhich may be treated in a patient (including human and non-humanmammalian patients) according to the invention include but are notlimited to the following lesions of either the central (including spinalcord, brain) or peripheral nervous systems:

(i) traumatic lesions, including lesions caused by physical injury orassociated with surgery, for example, lesions which sever a portion ofthe nervous system, or compression injuries;

(ii) ischemic lesions, in which a lack of oxygen in a portion of thenervous system results in neuronal injury or death, including cerebralinfarction or ischemia, or spinal cord infarction or ischemia;

(iii) infectious lesions, in which a portion of the nervous system isdestroyed or injured as a result of infection, for example, by anabscess or associated with infection by human immunodeficiency virus,herpes zoster, or herpes simplex virus or with Lyme disease,tuberculosis, syphilis;

(iv) degenerative lesions, in which a portion of the nervous system isdestroyed or injured as a result of a degenerative process including butnot limited to degeneration associated with Parkinson's disease,Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's chorea, or amyotrophic lateralsclerosis;

(v) lesions associated with nutritional diseases or disorders, in whicha portion of the nervous system is destroyed or injured by a nutritionaldisorder or disorder of metabolism including but not limited to, vitaminB12 deficiency, folic acid deficiency, Wernicke disease, tobacco-alcoholamblyopia, Marchiafava-Bignami disease (primary degeneration of thecorpus callosum), and alcoholic cerebellar degeneration;

(vi) neurological lesions associated with systemic diseases includingbut not limited to diabetes (diabetic neuropathy, Bell's palsy),systemic lupus erythematosus, carcinoma, or sarcoidosis;

(vii) lesions caused by toxic substances including alcohol, lead, orparticular neurotoxins; and

(viii) demyelinated lesions in which a portion of the nervous system isdestroyed or injured by a demyelinating disease including but notlimited to multiple sclerosis, human immunodeficiency virus-associatedmyelopathy, transverse myelopathy or various etiologies, progressivemultifocal leukoencephalopathy, and central pontine myelinolysis.

Therapeutics which are useful according to the invention for treatmentof a nervous system disorder may be selected by testing for biologicalactivity in promoting the survival or differentiation of neurons. Forexample, and not by way of limitation, therapeutics which elicit any ofthe following effects may be useful according to the invention:

(i) increased survival time of neurons in culture;

(ii) increased sprouting of neurons in culture or in vivo;

(iii) increased production of a neuron-associated molecule in culture orin vivo, e.g., choline acetyltransferase or acetylcholinesterase withrespect to motor neurons; or

(iv) decreased symptoms of neuron dysfunction in vivo.

Such effects may be measured by any method known in the art. Inpreferred, non-limiting embodiments, increased survival of neurons maybe measured by the method set forth in Arakawa et al. (1990, J.Neurosci. 10:3507-3515); increased sprouting of neurons may be detectedby methods set forth in Pestronk et al. (1980, Exp. Neurol. 70:65-82) orBrown et al. (1981, Ann. Rev. Neurosci. 4:17-42); increased productionof neuron-associated molecules may be measured by bioassay, enzymaticassay, antibody binding, Northern blot assay, etc., depending on themolecule to be measured; and motor neuron dysfunction may be measured byassessing the physical manifestation of motor neuron disorder, e.g.,weakness, motor neuron conduction velocity, or functional disability.

In a specific embodiments, motor neuron disorders that may be treatedaccording to the invention include but are not limited to disorders suchas infarction, infection, exposure to toxin, trauma, surgical damage,degenerative disease or malignancy that may affect motor neurons as wellas other components of the nervous system, as well as disorders thatselectively affect neurons such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, andincluding but not limited to progressive spinal muscular atrophy,progressive bulbar palsy, primary lateral sclerosis, infantile andjuvenile muscular atrophy, progressive bulbar paralysis of childhood(Fazio-Londe syndrome), poliomyelitis and the post polio syndrome, andHereditary Motorsensory Neuropathy (Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease).

6.15. Other Activities

A protein of the invention may also exhibit one or more of the followingadditional activities or effects: inhibiting the growth, infection orfunction of, or killing, infectious agents, including, withoutlimitation, bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites; effecting(suppressing or enhancing) bodily characteristics, including, withoutlimitation, height, weight, hair color, eye color, skin, fat to leanratio or other tissue pigmentation, or organ or body part size or shape(such as, for example, breast augmentation or diminution, change in boneform or shape); effecting biorhythms or caricadic cycles or rhythms;effecting the fertility of male or female subjects; effecting themetabolism, catabolism, anabolism, processing, utilization, storage orelimination of dietary fat, lipid, protein, carbohydrate, vitamins,minerals, co-factors or other nutritional factors or component(s);effecting behavioral characteristics, including, without limitation,appetite, libido, stress, cognition (including cognitive disorders),depression (including depressive disorders) and violent behaviors;providing analgesic effects or other pain reducing effects; promotingdifferentiation and growth of embryonic stem cells in lineages otherthan hematopoietic lineages; hormonal or endocrine activity; in the caseof enzymes, correcting deficiencies of the enzyme and treatingdeficiency-related diseases; treatment of hyperproliferative disorders(such as, for example, psoriasis); immunoglobulin-like activity (suchas, for example, the ability to bind antigens or complement); and theability to act as an antigen in a vaccine composition to raise an immuneresponse against such protein or another material or entity which iscross-reactive with such protein.

6.16 Identification of Polymorphisms

The demonstration of polymorphisms, for example the T125C, C184T andA205C polymorphisms illustrated in Example 2 below, makes possible theidentification of such polymorphisms in human subjects and thepharmacogenetic use of this information for diagnosis and treatment.Such polymorphisms may be associated with, e.g., differentialpredisposition or susceptibility to various disease states (such asdisorders involving inflammation or immune response) or a differentialresponse to drug administration, and this genetic information can beused to tailor preventive or therapeutic treatment appropriately. Forexample, the existence of a polymorphism associated with apredisposition to inflammation or autoimmune disease makes possible thediagnosis of this condition in humans by identifying the presence of thepolymorphism.

Polymorphisms can be identified in a variety of ways known in the artwhich all generally involve obtaining a sample from a patient, analyzingDNA from the sample, optionally involving isolation or amplification ofthe DNA, and identifying the presence of the polymorphism in the DNA.For example, PCR may be used to amplify an appropriate fragment ofgenomic DNA which may then be sequenced. Alternatively, the DNA may besubjected to allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization (in whichappropriate oligonucleotides are hybridized to the DNA under conditionspermitting detection of a single base mismatch) or to a singlenucleotide extension assay (in which an oligonucleotide that hybridizesimmediately adjacent to the position of the polymorphism is extendedwith one or more labelled nucleotides). In addition, traditionalrestriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (using restrictionenzymes that provide differential digestion of the genomic DNA dependingon the presence or absence of the polymorphism) may be performed.

Alternatively a polymorphism resulting in a change in the amino acidsequence could also be detected by detecting a corresponding change inamino acid sequence of the protein, e.g., by an antibody specific to thevariant sequence.

7. Therapeutic Methods

The novel IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides (including fragments, analogs andvariants) of the invention have numerous applications in a variety oftherapeutic methods. Examples of therapeutic applications include, butare not limited to, those exemplified below.

7.1 Sepsis

One embodiment of the invention is the administration of an effectiveamount of the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention to individuals thatare at a high risk of developing sepsis, or that have developed sepsis.An example of the former category are patients about to undergo surgery.While the mode of administration is not particularly important,parenteral administration is preferred because of the rapid progressionof sepsis, and thus, the need to have the inhibitor disseminate quicklythroughout the body. Thus, the preferred mode of administration is todeliver an I.V. bolus slightly before, during, or after surgery. Thedosage of the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention will normally bedetermined by the prescribing physician. It is to be expected that thedosage will vary according to the age, weight and response of theindividual patient. Typically, the amount of inhibitor administered perdose will be in the range of about 0.1 to 25 mg/kg of body weight, withthe preferred dose being about 0.1 to 10 mg/kg of patient body weight.For parenteral administration, the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of theinvention will be formulated in an injectable form combined with apharmaceutically acceptable parenteral vehicle. Such vehicles are wellknown in the art and examples include water, saline, Ringer's solution,dextrose solution, and solutions consisting of small amounts of thehuman serum albumin. The vehicle may contain minor amounts of additivesthat maintain the isotonicity and stability of the inhibitor. Thepreparation of such solutions is within the skill of the art. Typically,the cytokine inhibitor will be formulated in such vehicles at aconcentration of about 1-8 mg/ml to about 10 mg/ml.

7.2 Arthritis and Inflammation

The immunosuppressive effects of the Interleukin-1 inhibitor againstrheumatoid arthritis is determined in an experimental animal modelsystem. The experimental model system is adjuvant induced arthritis inrats, and the protocol is described by J. Holoshitz, et at., 1983,Science, 219:56, or by B. Waksman et al., 1963, Int. Arch. Allergy Appl.Immunol., 23:129. Induction of the disease can be caused by a singleinjection, generally intradermally, of a suspension of killedMycobacterium tuberculosis in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Theroute of injection can vary, but rats may be injected at the base of thetail with an adjuvant mixture. The inhibitor is administered inphosphate buffered solution (PBS) at a dose of about 1-5 mg/kg. Thecontrol consists of administering PBS only.

The procedure for testing the effects of the Interleukin-1 inhibitorwould consist of intradermally injecting killed Mycobacteriumtuberculosis in CFA followed by immediately administering the inhibitorand subsequent treatment every other day until day 24. At 14, 15, 18,20, 22, and 24 days after injection of Mycobacterium CFA, an overallarthritis score may be obtained as described by J. Holoskitz above. Ananalysis of the data would reveal that the inhibitor would have adramatic affect on the swelling of the joints as measured by a decreaseof the arthritis score.

7.3 Diabetes

Interleukin-1 has been shown to be involved in the destruction of isletcells in diabetes mellitus (DM) (Mandrup-Paulsen, T., K. Bendtzen, J.Nerup, C. A. Dinarello, M. Svenson, and J. H. Nielson [1986]Diabetologia 29:63-67). The IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention limitlymphocyte and macrophage mediated damage to islet cells in incipientcases of DM identified by disease susceptibility via genetic backgroundand family history. The inflammatory destruction of the pancreatic betaislet cells in such individuals with early DM is reduced by parenterallyadministering the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention which have ananti-Interleukin-1 effect in the pancreas.

7.4 Anti-Hypotensive Arginine-Free Formulations

The parenteral formulation of the therapeutic regimen is defined asincluding: about 3-4 g/l isoleucine, about 4-6 g/l leucine, about 3-4g/l lysine, about 1-2 g/l methionine, about 1-2 g/l phenylalanine, about2-3 g/l threonine, about 0.5-1.5 g/l tryptophan, about 3-4 g/l valine,about 4-5 g/l alanine, about 1-2 g/l histidine, about 3-4 g/l proline,about 1-2 g/l serine, about 0.25-0.75 g/l tyrosine, about 4-5 g/lglycine and about 2-3 g/l aspartic acid, together in a pharmacologicallyacceptable excipient. In another preferred embodiment of the describedparenteral formulation, the formulation may further include ornithine,most particularly at a concentration of about 1-2 g/l. In still anotherembodiment of the described parenteral formulation, the formulation mayinclude citrulline, most preferably at a concentration of between about1 g/l and about 2 g/l. Both citrulline and ornithine may be included instill another embodiment of the formulation, again at the concentrationsindicated.

The method includes an arginine-free formulation which comprises theamino acids and concentrations thereof already described herein,together in a pharmacologically acceptable excipient. Again, theformulation may further include ornithine, citrulline, or both, to evenfurther supply physiologically required concentrations of urea cyclesubstrates in the animal. Most preferably, the formulation is providedas a parenteral formulation.

Another aspect of the method comprises a method for treatingchemotherapeutic agent-related hypotension. In a most preferredembodiment, the method comprises monitoring an animal receiving achemotherapeutic agent for a decrease in systolic blood pressure to lessthan about 100 mm Hg to detect an animal with systemic hypotension,treating the animal having systemic hypotension with a therapeuticregimen comprising a therapeutically effective amount of anarginine-free formulation sufficient to reduce plasma or serum arginineconcentrations administered concurrently with or followed by theadministration of a therapeutically effective concentration of an IL-1Hy2 polypeptide, and maintaining the animal on the therapeutic regimenuntil an increase of systolic blood pressure to at least about 100 mm Hgis detectable. Most preferably, the arginine-free formulation is aparenteral formulation.

In a preferred embodiment, the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the inventionare used in combination with the anti-hypotensive arginine freeformulation to treat hypotension in an animal, particularly thathypotension caused by exposure to endotoxin or septic shock.

A patient having a systolic blood pressure of less than about 100 mm Hgwill be targeted for the present treatment. Such a patient is to beplaced on a continuous feed of an arginine-free formulation whichincludes a mixture of essential and nonessential amino acids asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,380. The patient is treatedconcurrently with the interleukin-1 antagonist polypeptides of theinvention. Blood samples are to be obtained from the patient andarginine levels in the serum or plasma fraction are determined.

7.5 Pharmaceutical Formulations and Routes of Administration

A protein of the present invention (from whatever source derived,including without limitation from recombinant and non-recombinantsources) may be administered to a patient in need, by itself, or inpharmaceutical compositions where it is mixed with suitable carriers orexcipient(s) at doses to treat or ameliorate a variety of disorders.Such a composition may also contain (in addition to protein and acarrier) diluents, fillers, salts, buffers, stabilizers, solubilizers,and other materials well known in the art. The term “pharmaceuticallyacceptable” means a non-toxic material that does not interfere with theeffectiveness of the biological activity of the active ingredient(s).The characteristics of the carrier will depend on the route ofadministration. The pharmaceutical composition of the invention may alsocontain cytokines, lymphokines, or other hematopoietic factors such asM-CSF, GM-CSF, TNF, IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8,IL-9, IL-10, IL-11, IL-12, IL-13, IL-14, IL-15, IFN, TNF0, TNF1, TNF2,G-CSF, Meg-CSF, thrombopoietin, stem cell factor, and erythropoietin.

The pharmaceutical composition may further contain other agents whicheither enhance the activity of the protein or compliment its activity oruse in treatment. Such additional factors and/or agents may be includedin the pharmaceutical composition to produce a synergistic effect withprotein of the invention, or to minimize side effects. Conversely,protein of the present invention may be included in formulations of theparticular cytokine, lymphokine, other hematopoietic factor,thrombolytic or anti-thrombotic factor, or anti-inflammatory agent tominimize side effects of the cytokine, lymphokine, other hematopoieticfactor, thrombolytic or anti-thrombotic factor, or anti-inflammatoryagent. A protein of the present invention may be active in multimers(e.g., heterodimers or homodimers) or complexes with itself or otherproteins. As a result, pharmaceutical compositions of the invention maycomprise a protein of the invention in such multimeric or complexedform.

Techniques for formulation and administration of the compounds of theinstant application may be found in “Remington's PharmaceuticalSciences,” Mack Publishing Co., Easton, Pa., latest edition. Atherapeutically effective dose further refers to that amount of thecompound sufficient to result in amelioration of symptoms, e.g.,treatment, healing, prevention or amelioration of the relevant medicalcondition, or an increase in rate of treatment, healing, prevention oramelioration of such conditions. When applied to an individual activeingredient, administered alone, a therapeutically effective dose refersto that ingredient alone. When applied to a combination, atherapeutically effective dose refers to combined amounts of the activeingredients that result in the therapeutic effect, whether administeredin combination, serially or simultaneously.

In practicing the method of treatment or use of the present invention, atherapeutically effective amount of protein of the present invention isadministered to a mammal having a condition to be treated. Protein ofthe present invention may be administered in accordance with the methodof the invention either alone or in combination with other therapiessuch as treatments employing cytokines, lymphokines or otherhematopoietic factors. When co-administered with one or more cytokines,lymphokines or other hematopoietic factors, protein of the presentinvention may be administered either simultaneously with thecytokine(s), lymphokine(s), other hematopoietic factor(s), thrombolyticor anti-thrombotic factors, or sequentially. If administeredsequentially, the attending physician will decide on the appropriatesequence of administering protein of the present invention incombination with cytokine(s), lymphokine(s), other hematopoieticfactor(s), thrombolytic or anti-thrombotic factors.

7.6. Routes of Administration

Suitable routes of administration may, for example, include oral,rectal, transmucosal, or intestinal administration; parenteral delivery,including intramuscular, subcutaneous, intramedullary injections, aswell as intrathecal, direct intraventricular, intravenous,intraperitoneal, intranasal, or intraocular injections. Administrationof protein of the present invention used in the pharmaceuticalcomposition or to practice the method of the present invention can becarried out in a variety of conventional ways, such as oral ingestion,inhalation, topical application or cutaneous, subcutaneous,intraperitoneal, parenteral or intravenous injection. Intravenousadministration to the patient is preferred.

Alternately, one may administer the compound in a local rather thansystemic manner, for example, via injection of the compound directlyinto a arthritic joints or in fibrotic tissue, often in a depot orsustained release formulation. In order to prevent the scarring processfrequently occurring as complication of glaucoma surgery, the compoundsmay be administered topically, for example, as eye drops. Furthermore,one may administer the drug in a targeted drug delivery system, forexample, in a liposome coated with a specific antibody, targeting, forexample, arthritic or fibrotic tissue. The liposomes will be targeted toand taken up selectively by the afflicted tissue.

7.7. Compositions/Formulations

Pharmaceutical compositions for use in accordance with the presentinvention thus may be formulated in a conventional manner using one ormore physiologically acceptable carriers comprising excipients andauxiliaries which facilitate processing of the active compounds intopreparations which can be used pharmaceutically. These pharmaceuticalcompositions may be manufactured in a manner that is itself known, e.g.,by means of conventional mixing, dissolving, granulating, dragee-making,levigating, emulsifying, encapsulating, entrapping or lyophilizingprocesses. Proper formulation is dependent upon the route ofadministration chosen. When a therapeutically effective amount ofprotein of the present invention is administered orally, protein of thepresent invention will be in the form of a tablet, capsule, powder,solution or elixir. When administered in tablet form, the pharmaceuticalcomposition of the invention may additionally contain a solid carriersuch as a gelatin or an adjuvant. The tablet, capsule, and powdercontain from about 5 to 95% protein of the present invention, andpreferably from about 25 to 90% protein of the present invention. Whenadministered in liquid form, a liquid carrier such as water, petroleum,oils of animal or plant origin such as peanut oil, mineral oil, soybeanoil, or sesame oil, or synthetic oils may be added. The liquid form ofthe pharmaceutical composition may further contain physiological salinesolution, dextrose or other saccharide solution, or glycols such asethylene glycol, propylene glycol or polyethylene glycol. Whenadministered in liquid form, the pharmaceutical composition containsfrom about 0.5 to 90% by weight of protein of the present invention, andpreferably from about 1 to 50% protein of the present invention.

When a therapeutically effective amount of protein of the presentinvention is administered by intravenous, cutaneous or subcutaneousinjection, protein of the present invention will be in the form of apyrogen-free, parenterally acceptable aqueous solution. The preparationof such parenterally acceptable protein solutions, having due regard topH, isotonicity, stability, and the like, is within the skill in theart. A preferred pharmaceutical composition for intravenous, cutaneous,or subcutaneous injection should contain, in addition to protein of thepresent invention, an isotonic vehicle such as Sodium ChlorideInjection, Ringer's Injection, Dextrose Injection, Dextrose and SodiumChloride Injection, Lactated Ringer's Injection, or other vehicle asknown in the art. The pharmaceutical composition of the presentinvention may also contain stabilizers, preservatives, buffers,antioxidants, or other additives known to those of skill in the art. Forinjection, the agents of the invention may be formulated in aqueoussolutions, preferably in physiologically compatible buffers such asHanks's solution, Ringer's solution, or physiological saline buffer. Fortransmucosal administration, penetrants appropriate to the barrier to bepermeated are used in the formulation. Such penetrants are generallyknown in the art.

For oral administration, the compounds can be formulated readily bycombining the active compounds with pharmaceutically acceptable carrierswell known in the art. Such carriers enable the compounds of theinvention to be formulated as tablets, pills, dragees, capsules,liquids, gels, syrups, slurries, suspensions and the like, for oralingestion by a patient to be treated. Pharmaceutical preparations fororal use can be obtained solid excipient, optionally grinding aresulting mixture, and processing the mixture of granules, after addingsuitable auxiliaries, if desired, to obtain tablets or dragee cores.Suitable excipients are, in particular, fillers such as sugars,including lactose, sucrose, mannitol, or sorbitol; cellulosepreparations such as, for example, maize starch, wheat starch, ricestarch, potato starch, gelatin, gum tragacanth, methyl cellulose,hydroxypropylmethyl-cellulose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, and/orpolyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). If desired, disintegrating agents may beadded, such as the cross-linked polyvinyl pyrrolidone, agar, or alginicacid or a salt thereof such as sodium alginate. Dragee cores areprovided with suitable coatings. For this purpose, concentrated sugarsolutions may be used, which may optionally contain gum arabic, talc,polyvinyl pyrrolidone, carbopol gel, polyethylene glycol, and/ortitanium dioxide, lacquer solutions, and suitable organic solvents orsolvent mixtures. Dyestuffs or pigments may be added to the tablets ordragee coatings for identification or to characterize differentcombinations of active compound doses.

Pharmaceutical preparations which can be used orally include push-fitcapsules made of gelatin, as well as soft, sealed capsules made ofgelatin and a plasticizer, such as glycerol or sorbitol. The push-fitcapsules can contain the active ingredients in admixture with fillersuch as lactose, binders such as starches, and/or lubricants such astalc or magnesium stearate and, optionally, stabilizers. In softcapsules, the active compounds may be dissolved or suspended in suitableliquids, such as fatty oils, liquid paraffin, or liquid polyethyleneglycols. In addition, stabilizers may be added. All formulations fororal administration should be in dosages suitable for suchadministration. For buccal administration, the compositions may take theform of tablets or lozenges formulated in conventional manner.

For administration by inhalation, the compounds for use according to thepresent invention are conveniently delivered in the form of an aerosolspray presentation from pressurized packs or a nebuliser, with the useof a suitable propellant, e.g., dichlorodifluoromethane,trichlorofluoromethane, dichlorotetrafluoroethane, carbon dioxide orother suitable gas. In the case of a pressurized aerosol the dosage unitmay be determined by providing a valve to deliver a metered amount.Capsules and cartridges of, e.g., gelatin for use in an inhaler orinsufflator may be formulated containing a powder mix of the compoundand a suitable powder base such as lactose or starch. The compounds maybe formulated for parenteral administration by injection, e.g., by bolusinjection or continuous infusion. Formulations for injection may bepresented in unit dosage form, e.g., in ampoules or in multi-dosecontainers, with an added preservative. The compositions may take suchforms as suspensions, solutions or emulsions in oily or aqueousvehicles, and may contain formulatory agents such as suspending,stabilizing and/or dispersing agents.

Pharmaceutical formulations for parenteral administration includeaqueous solutions of the active compounds in water-soluble form.Additionally, suspensions of the active compounds may be prepared asappropriate oily injection suspensions. Suitable lipophilic solvents orvehicles include fatty oils such as sesame oil, or synthetic fatty acidesters, such as ethyl oleate or triglycerides, or liposomes. Aqueousinjection suspensions may contain substances which increase theviscosity of the suspension, such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose,sorbitol, or dextran. Optionally, the suspension may also containsuitable stabilizers or agents which increase the solubility of thecompounds to allow for the preparation of highly concentrated solutions.Alternatively, the active ingredient may be in powder form forconstitution with a suitable vehicle, e.g., sterile pyrogen-free water,before use.

The compounds may also be formulated in rectal compositions such assuppositories or retention enemas, e.g., containing conventionalsuppository bases such as cocoa butter or other glycerides. In additionto the formulations described previously, the compounds may also beformulated as a depot preparation. Such long acting formulations may beadministered by implantation (for example subcutaneously orintramuscularly) or by intramuscular injection. Thus, for example, thecompounds may be formulated with suitable polymeric or hydrophobicmaterials (for example as an emulsion in an acceptable oil) or ionexchange resins, or as sparingly soluble derivatives, for example, as asparingly soluble salt.

A pharmaceutical carrier for the hydrophobic compounds of the inventionis a cosolvent system comprising benzyl alcohol, a nonpolar surfactant,a water-miscible organic polymer, and an aqueous phase. The cosolventsystem may be the VPD co-solvent system. VPD is a solution of 3% w/vbenzyl alcohol, 8% w/v of the nonpolar surfactant polysorbate 80, and65% w/v polyethylene glycol 300, made up to volume in absolute ethanol.The VPD co-solvent system (VPD:5W) consists of VPD diluted 1:1 with a 5%dextrose in water solution. This co-solvent system dissolves hydrophobiccompounds well, and itself produces low toxicity upon systemicadministration. Naturally, the proportions of a co-solvent system may bevaried considerably without destroying its solubility and toxicitycharacteristics. Furthermore, the identity of the co-solvent componentsmay be varied: for example, other low-toxicity nonpolar surfactants maybe used instead of polysorbate 80; the fraction size of polyethyleneglycol may be varied; other biocompatible polymers may replacepolyethylene glycol, e.g. polyvinyl pyrrolidone; and other sugars orpolysaccharides may substitute for dextrose. Alternatively, otherdelivery systems for hydrophobic pharmaceutical compounds may beemployed. Liposomes and emulsions are well known examples of deliveryvehicles or carriers for hydrophobic drugs. Certain organic solventssuch as dimethylsulfoxide also may be employed, although usually at thecost of greater toxicity. Additionally, the compounds may be deliveredusing a sustained-release system, such as semipermeable matrices ofsolid hydrophobic polymers containing the therapeutic agent. Various ofsustained-release materials have been established and are well known bythose skilled in the art. Sustained-release capsules may, depending ontheir chemical nature, release the compounds for a few weeks up to over100 days. Depending on the chemical nature and the biological stabilityof the therapeutic reagent, additional strategies for proteinstabilization may be employed.

The pharmaceutical compositions also may comprise suitable solid or gelphase carriers or excipients. Examples of such carriers or excipientsinclude but are not limited to calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate,various sugars, starches, cellulose derivatives, gelatin, and polymerssuch as polyethylene glycols. Many of the proteinase inhibitingcompounds of the invention may be provided as salts withpharmaceutically compatible counterions. Such pharmaceuticallyacceptable base addition salts are those salts which retain thebiological effectiveness and properties of the free acids and which areobtained by reaction with inorganic or organic bases such as sodiumhydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, ammonia, trialkylamine, dialkylamine,monoalkylamine, dibasic amino acids, sodium acetate, potassium benzoate,triethanol amine and the like.

The pharmaceutical composition of the invention may be in the form of acomplex of the protein(s) of present invention along with protein orpeptide antigens. The protein and/or peptide antigen will deliver astimulatory signal to both B and T lymphocytes. B lymphocytes willrespond to antigen through their surface immunoglobulin receptor. Tlymphocytes will respond to antigen through the T cell receptor (TCR)following presentation of the antigen by MHC proteins. MHC andstructurally related proteins including those encoded by class I andclass II MHC genes on host cells will serve to present the peptideantigen(s) to T lymphocytes. The antigen components could also besupplied as purified MHC-peptide complexes alone or with co-stimulatorymolecules that can directly signal T cells. Alternatively antibodiesable to bind surface immunoglobulin and other molecules on B cells aswell as antibodies able to bind the TCR and other molecules on T cellscan be combined with the pharmaceutical composition of the invention.The pharmaceutical composition of the invention may be in the form of aliposome in which protein of the present invention is combined, inaddition to other pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, with amphipathicagents such as lipids which exist in aggregated form as micelles,insoluble monolayers, liquid crystals, or lamellar layers in aqueoussolution. Suitable lipids for liposomal formulation include, withoutlimitation, monoglycerides, diglycerides, sulfatides, lysolecithin,phospholipids, saponin, bile acids, and the like. Preparation of suchliposomal formulations is within the level of skill in the art, asdisclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,235,871; 4,501,728;4,837,028; and 4,737,323, all of which are incorporated herein byreference.

The amount of protein of the present invention in the pharmaceuticalcomposition of the present invention will depend upon the nature andseverity of the condition being treated, and on the nature of priortreatments which the patient has undergone. Ultimately, the attendingphysician will decide the amount of protein of the present inventionwith which to treat each individual patient. Initially, the attendingphysician will administer low doses of protein of the present inventionand observe the patient's response. Larger doses of protein of thepresent invention may be administered until the optimal therapeuticeffect is obtained for the patient, and at that point the dosage is notincreased further. It is contemplated that the various pharmaceuticalcompositions used to practice the method of the present invention shouldcontain about 0.01 μg to about 100 mg (preferably about 0.1 μg to about10 mg, more preferably about 0.1 μg to about 1 mg) of protein of thepresent invention per kg body weight. For compositions of the presentinvention which are useful for bone, cartilage, tendon or ligamentregeneration, the therapeutic method includes administering thecomposition topically, systematically, or locally as an implant ordevice. When administered, the therapeutic composition for use in thisinvention is, of course, in a pyrogen-free, physiologically acceptableform. Further, the composition may desirably be encapsulated or injectedin a viscous form for delivery to the site of bone, cartilage or tissuedamage. Topical administration may be suitable for wound healing andtissue repair. Therapeutically useful agents other than a protein of theinvention which may also optionally be included in the composition asdescribed above, may alternatively or additionally, be administeredsimultaneously or sequentially with the composition in the methods ofthe invention. Preferably for bone and/or cartilage formation, thecomposition would include a matrix capable of delivering theprotein-containing composition to the site of bone and/or cartilagedamage, providing a structure for the developing bone and cartilage andoptimally capable of being resorbed into the body. Such matrices may beformed of materials presently in use for other implanted medicalapplications.

The choice of matrix material is based on biocompatibility,biodegradability, mechanical properties, cosmetic appearance andinterface properties. The particular application of the compositionswill define the appropriate formulation. Potential matrices for thecompositions may be biodegradable and chemically defined calciumsulfate, tricalciumphosphate, hydroxyapatite, polylactic acid,polyglycolic acid and polyanhydrides. Other potential materials arebiodegradable and biologically well-defined, such as bone or dermalcollagen. Further matrices are comprised of pure proteins orextracellular matrix components. Other potential matrices arenonbiodegradable and chemically defined, such as sinteredhydroxyapatite, bioglass, aluminates, or other ceramics. Matrices may becomprised of combinations of any of the above mentioned types ofmaterial, such as polylactic acid and hydroxyapatite or collagen andtricalciumphosphate. The bioceramics may be altered in composition, suchas in calcium-aluminate-phosphate and processing to alter pore size,particle size, particle shape, and biodegradability. Presently preferredis a 50:50 (mole weight) copolymer of lactic acid and glycolic acid inthe form of porous particles having diameters ranging from 150 to 800microns. In some applications, it will be useful to utilize asequestering agent, such as carboxymethyl cellulose or autologous bloodclot, to prevent the protein compositions from disassociating from thematrix.

A preferred family of sequestering agents is cellulosic materials suchas alkylcelluloses (including hydroxyalkylcelluloses), includingmethylcellulose, ethylcellulose, hydroxyethylcellulose,hydroxypropylcellulose, hydroxypropyl-methylcellulose, andcarboxymethylcellulose, the most preferred being cationic salts ofcarboxymethylcellulose (CMC). Other preferred sequestering agentsinclude hyaluronic acid, sodium alginate, poly(ethylene glycol),polyoxyethylene oxide, carboxyvinyl polymer and poly(vinyl alcohol). Theamount of sequestering agent useful herein is 0.5-20 wt %, preferably1-10 wt % based on total formulation weight, which represents the amountnecessary to prevent desorbtion of the protein from the polymer matrixand to provide appropriate handling of the composition, yet not so muchthat the progenitor cells are prevented from infiltrating the matrix,thereby providing the protein the opportunity to assist the osteogenicactivity of the progenitor cells. In further compositions, proteins ofthe invention may be combined with other agents beneficial to thetreatment of the bone and/or cartilage defect, wound, or tissue inquestion. These agents include various growth factors such as epidermalgrowth factor (EGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), transforminggrowth factors (TGF-.alpha. and TGF-.beta.), and insulin-like growthfactor (IGF).

The therapeutic compositions are also presently valuable for veterinaryapplications. Particularly domestic animals and thoroughbred horses, inaddition to humans, are desired patients for such treatment withproteins of the present invention. The dosage regimen of aprotein-containing pharmaceutical composition to be used in tissueregeneration will be determined by the attending physician consideringvarious factors which modify the action of the proteins, e.g., amount oftissue weight desired to be formed, the site of damage, the condition ofthe damaged tissue, the size of a wound, type of damaged tissue (e.g.,bone), the patient's age, sex, and diet, the severity of any infection,time of administration and other clinical factors. The dosage may varywith the type of matrix used in the reconstitution and with inclusion ofother proteins in the pharmaceutical composition. For example, theaddition of other known growth factors, such as IGF I (insulin likegrowth factor I), to the final composition, may also effect the dosage.Progress can be monitored by periodic assessment of tissue/bone growthand/or repair, for example, X-rays, histomorphometric determinations andtetracycline labeling.

Polynucleotides of the present invention can also be used for genetherapy. Such polynucleotides can be introduced either in vivo or exvivo into cells for expression in a mammalian subject. Polynucleotidesof the invention may also be administered by other known methods forintroduction of nucleic acid into a cell or organism (including, withoutlimitation, in the form of viral vectors or naked DNA). Cells may alsobe cultured ex vivo in the presence of proteins of the present inventionin order to proliferate or to produce a desired effect on or activity insuch cells. Treated cells can then be introduced in vivo for therapeuticpurposes.

7.8. Effective Dosage

Pharmaceutical compositions suitable for use in the present inventioninclude compositions wherein the active ingredients are contained in aneffective amount to achieve its intended purpose. More specifically, atherapeutically effective amount means an amount effective to preventdevelopment of or to alleviate the existing symptoms of the subjectbeing treated. Determination of the effective amounts is well within thecapability of those skilled in the art, especially in light of thedetailed disclosure provided herein. For any compound used in the methodof the invention, the therapeutically effective dose can be estimatedinitially from cell culture assays. For example, a dose can beformulated in animal models to achieve a circulating concentration rangethat includes the IC₅₀ as determined in cell culture (i.e., theconcentration of the test compound which achieves a half-maximalinhibition of the C-proteinase activity). Such information can be usedto more accurately determine useful doses in humans.

A therapeutically effective dose refers to that amount of the compoundthat results in amelioration of symptoms or a prolongation of survivalin a patient. Toxicity and therapeutic efficacy of such compounds can bedetermined by standard pharmaceutical procedures in cell cultures orexperimental animals, e.g., for determining the LD₅₀ (the dose lethal to50% of the population) and the ED₅₀ (the dose therapeutically effectivein 50% of the population). The dose ratio between toxic and therapeuticeffects is the therapeutic index and it can be expressed as the ratiobetween LD₅₀ and ED₅₀. Compounds which exhibit high therapeutic indicesare preferred. The data obtained from these cell culture assays andanimal studies can be used in formulating a range of dosage for use inhuman. The dosage of such compounds lies preferably within a range ofcirculating concentrations that include the ED₅₀ with little or notoxicity. The dosage may vary within this range depending upon thedosage form employed and the route of administration utilized. The exactformulation, route of administration and dosage can be chosen by theindividual physician in view of the patient's condition. See, e.g.,Fingl et al., 1975, in “The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics”, Ch.1 p.1. Dosage amount and interval may be adjusted individually toprovide plasma levels of the active moiety which are sufficient tomaintain the C-proteinase inhibiting effects, or minimal effectiveconcentration (MEC). The MEC will vary for each compound but can beestimated from in vitro data; for example, the concentration necessaryto achieve 50-90% inhibition of the C-proteinase using the assaysdescribed herein. Dosages necessary to achieve the MEC will depend onindividual characteristics and route of administration. However, HPLCassays or bioassays can be used to determine plasma concentrations.

Dosage intervals can also be determined using MEC value. Compoundsshould be administered using a regimen which maintains plasma levelsabove the MEC for 10-90% of the time, preferably between 30-90% and mostpreferably between 50-90%. In cases of local administration or selectiveuptake, the effective local concentration of the drug may not be relatedto plasma concentration.

An exemplary dosage regimen for the human IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of theinvention will be in the range of about 0.01 to 100 mg/kg of body weightdaily, with the preferred dose being about 0.1 to 25 mg/kg of patientbody weight daily, varying in adults and children. Dosing may be oncedaily, or equivalent doses may be delivered at longer or shorterintervals.

The amount of composition administered will, of course, be dependent onthe subject being treated, on the subject's age and weight, the severityof the affliction, the manner of administration and the judgment of theprescribing physician.

7.9. Packaging

The compositions may, if desired, be presented in a pack or dispenserdevice which may contain one or more unit dosage forms containing theactive ingredient. The pack may, for example, comprise metal or plasticfoil, such as a blister pack. The pack or dispenser device may beaccompanied by instructions for administration. Compositions comprisinga compound of the invention formulated in a compatible pharmaceuticalcarrier may also be prepared, placed in an appropriate container, andlabelled for treatment of an indicated condition.

8. Antibodies

Another aspect of the invention is an antibody that specifically bindsthe polypeptide of the invention. Such antibodies can be eithermonoclonal or polyclonal antibodies, as well fragments thereof andhumanized forms or fully human forms, such as those produced intransgenic animals. The invention further provides a hybridoma thatproduces an antibody according to the invention. Antibodies of theinvention are useful for detection and/or purification of thepolypeptides of the invention.

Protein of the invention may also be used to immunize animals to obtainpolyclonal and monoclonal antibodies which specifically react with theprotein. Such antibodies may be obtained using either the entire proteinor fragments thereof as an immunogen. The peptide immunogensadditionally may contain a cysteine residue at the carboxyl terminus,and are conjugated to a hapten such as keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH).Methods for synthesizing such peptides are known in the art, forexample, as in R. P. Merrifield, J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 85, 2149-2154(1963); J. L. Krstenansky, et al., FEBS Lett. 211, 10 (1987). Monoclonalantibodies binding to the protein of the invention may be usefuldiagnostic agents for the immunodetection of the protein. Neutralizingmonoclonal antibodies binding to the protein may also be usefultherapeutics for both conditions associated with the protein and also inthe treatment of some forms of cancer where abnormal expression of theprotein is involved. In the case of cancerous cells or leukemic cells,neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against the protein may be useful indetecting and preventing the metastatic spread of the cancerous cells,which may be mediated by the protein. In general, techniques forpreparing polygonal and monoclonal antibodies as well as hybridomascapable of producing the desired antibody are well known in the art(Campbell, A. M., Monoclonal Antibodies Technology: LaboratoryTechniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Elsevier SciencePublishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1984); St. Groth et al., J.Immunol. 35:1-21 (1990); Kohler and Milstein, Nature 256:495-497(1975)), the trioma technique, the human B-cell hybridoma technique(Kozbor et al., Immunology Today 4:72 (1983); Cole et al., in MonoclonalAntibodies and Cancer Therapy, Alan R. Liss, Inc. (1985), pp. 77-96).

Any animal (mouse, rabbit, etc.) which is known to produce antibodiescan be immunized with a peptide or polypeptide of the invention. Methodsfor immunization are well known in the art. Such methods includesubcutaneous or intraperitoneal injection of the polypeptide. Oneskilled in the art will recognize that the amount of the protein encodedby the ORF of the present invention used for immunization will varybased on the animal which is immunized, the antigenicity of the peptideand the site of injection. The protein that is used as an immunogen maybe modified or administered in an adjuvant in order to increase theprotein's antigenicity. Methods of increasing the antigenicity of aprotein are well known in the art and include, but are not limited to,coupling the antigen with a heterologous protein (such as globulin orβ-galactosidase) or through the inclusion of an adjuvant duringimmunization.

For monoclonal antibodies, spleen cells from the immunized animals areremoved, fused with myeloma cells, such as SP2/0-Ag14 myeloma cells, andallowed to become monoclonal antibody producing hybridoma cells. Any oneof a number of methods well known in the art can be used to identify thehybridoma cell which produces an antibody with the desiredcharacteristics. These include screening the hybridomas with an ELISAassay, western blot analysis, or radioimmunoassay (Lutz et al., Exp.Cell Research. 175:109-124 (1988)). Hybridomas secreting the desiredantibodies are cloned and the class and subclass is determined usingprocedures known in the art (Campbell, A.M., Monoclonal AntibodyTechnology: Laboratory Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1984)).Techniques described for the production of single chain antibodies (U.S.Pat. No. 4,946,778) can be adapted to produce single chain antibodies toproteins of the present invention.

For polyclonal antibodies, antibody containing antiserum is isolatedfrom the immunized animal and is screened for the presence of antibodieswith the desired specificity using one of the above-describedprocedures. The present invention further provides the above-describedantibodies in delectably labeled form. Antibodies can be delectablylabeled through the use of radioisotopes, affinity labels (such asbiotin, avidin, etc.), enzymatic labels (such as horseradish peroxidase,alkaline phosphatase, etc.) fluorescent labels (such as FITC orrhodamine, etc.), paramagnetic atoms, etc. Procedures for accomplishingsuch labeling are well-known in the art, for example, see (Sternberger,L. A. et al., J. Histochem. Cytochem. 18:315 (1970); Bayer, E. A. etal., Meth. Enzym. 62:308 (1979); Engval, E. et al., Immunol. 109:129(1972); Goding, J. W. J. Immunol. Meth. 13:215 (1976)).

The labeled antibodies of the present invention can be used for invitro, in vivo, and in situ assays to identify cells or tissues in whicha fragment of the polypeptide of interest is expressed. The antibodiesmay also be used directly in therapies or other diagnostics. The presentinvention further provides the above-described antibodies immobilized ona solid support. Examples of such solid supports include plastics suchas polycarbonate, complex carbohydrates such as agarose and sepharose,acrylic resins and such as polyacrylamide and latex beads. Techniquesfor coupling antibodies to such solid supports are well known in the art(Weir, D. M. et al., “Handbook of Experimental Immunology” 4th Ed.,Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, England, Chapter 10 (1986);Jacoby, W. D. et al., Meth. Enzym. 34 Academic Press, N.Y. (1974)). Theimmobilized antibodies of the present invention can be used for invitro, in vivo, and in situ assays as well as for immuno-affinitypurification of the proteins of the present invention.

9. Computer Readable Sequences

In one application of this embodiment, a nucleotide sequence of thepresent invention can be recorded on computer readable media. As usedherein, “computer readable media” refers to any medium which can be readand accessed directly by a computer. Such media include, but are notlimited to: magnetic storage media, such as floppy discs, hard discstorage medium, and magnetic tape; optical storage media such as CD-ROM;electrical storage media such as RAM and ROM; and hybrids of thesecategories such as magnetic/optical storage media. A skilled artisan canreadily appreciate how any of the presently known computer readablemediums can be used to create a manufacture comprising computer readablemedium having recorded thereon a nucleotide sequence of the presentinvention. As used herein, “recorded” refers to a process for storinginformation on computer readable medium. A skilled artisan can readilyadopt any of the presently known methods for recording information oncomputer readable medium to generate manufactures comprising thenucleotide sequence information of the present invention.

A variety of data storage structures are available to a skilled artisanfor creating a computer readable medium having recorded thereon anucleotide sequence of the present invention. The choice of the datastorage structure will generally be based on the means chosen to accessthe stored information. In addition, a variety of data processorprograms and formats can be used to store the nucleotide sequenceinformation of the present invention on computer readable medium. Thesequence information can be represented in a word processing text file,formatted in commercially-available software such as WordPerfect andMicrosoft Word, or represented in the form of an ASCII file, stored in adatabase application, such as DB2, Sybase, Oracle, or the like. Askilled artisan can readily adapt any number of dataprocessorstructuring formats (e.g. text file or database) in order to obtaincomputer readable medium having recorded thereon the nucleotide sequenceinformation of the present invention. By providing the nucleotidesequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a representative fragment thereof, or anucleotide sequence at least 99.9% identical to SEQ ID NO:1 in computerreadable form, a skilled artisan can routinely access the sequenceinformation for a variety of purposes. Computer software is publiclyavailable which allows a skilled artisan to access sequence informationprovided in a computer readable medium. The examples which followdemonstrate how software which implements the BLAST (Altschul et al., J.Mol. Biol. 215:403-410 (1990)) and BLAZE (Brutlag et al., Comp. Chem.17:203-207 (1993)) search algorithms on a Sybase system is used toidentify open reading frames (ORFs) within a nucleic acid sequence. SuchORFs may be protein encoding fragments and may be useful in producingcommercially important proteins such as enzymes used in fermentationreactions and in the production of commercially useful metabolites.

As used herein, “a computer-based system” refers to the hardware means,software means, and data storage means used to analyze the nucleotidesequence information of the present invention. The minimum hardwaremeans of the computer-based systems of the present invention comprises acentral processing unit (CPU), input means, output means, and datastorage means. A skilled artisan can readily appreciate that any one ofthe currently available computer-based systems are suitable for use inthe present invention. As stated above, the computer-based systems ofthe present invention comprise a data storage means having storedtherein a nucleotide sequence of the present invention and the necessaryhardware means and software means for supporting and implementing asearch means. As used herein, “data storage means” refers to memorywhich can store nucleotide sequence information of the presentinvention, or a memory access means which can access manufactures havingrecorded thereon the nucleotide sequence information of the presentinvention.

As used herein, “search means” refers to one or more programs which areimplemented on the computer-based system to compare a target sequence ortarget structural motif with the sequence information stored within thedata storage means. Search means are used to identify fragments orregions of a known sequence which match a particular target sequence ortarget motif. A variety of known algorithms are disclosed publicly and avariety of commercially available software for conducting search meansare and can be used in the computer-based systems of the presentinvention. Examples of such software includes, but is not limited to,MacPattern (EMBL), BLASTN and BLASTA (NPOLYPEPTIDEIA). A skilled artisancan readily recognize that any one of the available algorithms orimplementing software packages for conducting homology searches can beadapted for use in the present computer-based systems. As used herein, a“target sequence” can be any nucleic acid or amino acid sequence of sixor more nucleotides or two or more amino acids. A skilled artisan canreadily recognize that the longer a target sequence is, the less likelya target sequence will be present as a random occurrence in thedatabase. The most preferred sequence length of a target sequence isfrom about 10 to 100 amino acids or from about 30 to 300 nucleotideresidues. However, it is well recognized that searches for commerciallyimportant fragments, such as sequence fragments involved in geneexpression and protein processing, may be of shorter length.

As used herein, “a target structural motif,” or “target motif,” refersto any rationally selected sequence or combination of sequences in whichthe sequence(s) are chosen based on a three-dimensional configurationwhich is formed upon the folding of the target motif There are a varietyof target motifs known in the art. Protein target motifs include, butare not limited to, enzyme active sites and signal sequences. Nucleicacid target motifs include, but are not limited to, promoter sequences,hairpin structures and inducible expression elements (protein bindingsequences).

10. Triple Helix Formation

In addition, the fragments of the present invention, as broadlydescribed, can be used to control gene expression through triple helixformation or antisense DNA or RNA, both of which methods are based onthe binding of a polynucleotide sequence to DNA or RNA. Polynucleotidessuitable for use in these methods are usually 20 to 40 bases in lengthand are designed to be complementary to a region of the gene involved intranscription (triple helix—see Lee et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 6:3073(1979); Cooney et al., Science 15241:456 (1988); and Dervan et al.,Science 251:1360 (1991)) or to the mRNA itself (antisense—Olmno, J.Neurochem. 56:560 (1991); Oligodeoxynucleotides as Antisense Inhibitorsof Gene Expression, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla. (1988)). Triplehelix-formation optimally results in a shut-off of RNA transcriptionfrom DNA, while antisense RNA hybridization blocks translation of anmRNA molecule into polypeptide. Both techniques have been demonstratedto be effective in model systems. Information contained in the sequencesof the present invention is necessary for the design of an antisense ortriple helix oligonucleotide.

11. Diagnostic Assays and Kits

The present invention further provides methods to identify the presenceor expression of one of the ORFs of the present invention, or homologthereof, in a test sample, using a nucleic acid probe or antibodies ofthe present invention.

In general, methods for detecting a polynucleotide of the invention cancomprise contacting a sample with a compound that binds to and forms acomplex with the polynucleotide for a period sufficient to form thecomplex, and detecting the complex, so that if a complex is detected, apolynucleotide of the invention is detected in the sample. Such methodscan also comprise contacting a sample under stringent hybridizationconditions with nucleic acid primers that anneal to a polynucleotide ofthe invention under such conditions, and amplifying annealedpolynucleotides, so that if a polynucleotide is amplified, apolynucleotide of the invention is detected in the sample.

In general, methods for detecting a polypeptide of the invention cancomprise contacting a sample with a compound that binds to and forms acomplex with the polypeptide for a period sufficient to form thecomplex, and detecting the complex, so that if a complex is detected, apolypeptide of the invention is detected in the sample. In detail, suchmethods comprise incubating a test sample with one or more of theantibodies or one or more of nucleic acid probes of the presentinvention and assaying for binding of the nucleic acid probes orantibodies to components within the test sample.

Conditions for incubating a nucleic acid probe or antibody with a testsample vary. Incubation conditions depend on the format employed in theassay, the detection methods employed, and the type and nature of thenucleic acid probe or antibody used in the assay. One skilled in the artwill recognize that any one of the commonly available hybridization,amplification or immunological assay formats can readily be adapted toemploy the nucleic acid probes or antibodies of the present invention.Examples of such assays can be found in Chard, T., An Introduction toRadioimmunoassay and Related Techniques, Elsevier Science Publishers,Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1986); Bullock, G. R. et al., Techniques inImmunocytochemistry, Academic Press, Orlando, Fla. Vol. 1 (1982), Vol. 2(1983), Vol. 3 (1985); Tijssen, P., Practice and Theory of immunoassays:Laboratory Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ElsevierScience Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1985). The test samplesof the present invention include cells, protein or membrane extracts ofcells, or biological fluids such as sputum, blood, serum, plasma, orurine. The test sample used in the above-described method will varybased on the assay format, nature of the detection method and thetissues, cells or extracts used as the sample to be assayed. Methods forpreparing protein extracts or membrane extracts of cells are well knownin the art and can be readily be adapted in order to obtain a samplewhich is compatible with the system utilized.

In another embodiment of the present invention, kits are provided whichcontain the necessary reagents to carry out the assays of the presentinvention. Specifically, the invention provides a compartment kit toreceive, in close confinement, one or more containers which comprises:(a) a first container comprising one of the probes or antibodies of thepresent invention; and (b) one or more other containers comprising oneor more of the following: wash reagents, reagents capable of detectingpresence of a bound probe or antibody.

In detail, a compartment kit includes any kit in which reagents arecontained in separate containers. Such containers include small glasscontainers, plastic containers or strips of plastic or paper. Suchcontainers allows one to efficiently transfer reagents from onecompartment to another compartment such that the samples and reagentsare not cross-contaminated, and the agents or solutions of eachcontainer can be added in a quantitative fashion from one compartment toanother. Such containers will include a container which will accept thetest sample, a container which contains the antibodies used in theassay, containers which contain wash reagents (such as phosphatebuffered saline, Tris-buffers, etc.), and containers which contain thereagents used to detect the bound antibody or probe. Types of detectionreagents include labeled nucleic acid probes, labeled secondaryantibodies, or in the alternative, if the primary antibody is labeled,the enzymatic, or antibody binding reagents which are capable ofreacting with the labeled antibody. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize that the disclosed probes and antibodies of the presentinvention can be readily incorporated into one of the established kitformats which are well known in the art.

12. Medical Imaging

The novel IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention are useful in medicalimaging, e.g., imaging the site of infection, inflammation, and othersites having Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist receptor molecules. See,e.g., Kunkel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,778. Such methods involvechemical attachment of a labelling agent, administration of the labelledIL-1 Hy2 polypeptide to a subject in a pharmaceutically acceptablecarrier, and imaging the labelled IL-1 Hy2 polypeptide in vivo at thetarget site.

13. Screening Assays

Using the isolated proteins and polynucleotides of the invention, thepresent invention further provides methods of obtaining and identifyingagents which bind to a polypeptide encoded by the ORF from apolynucleotide with a sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 to a specific domain ofthe polypeptide encoded by the nucleic acid, or to a nucleic acid with asequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. In detail, said method comprises the steps of:

(a) contacting an agent with an isolated protein encoded by an ORF ofthe present invention, or nucleic acid of the invention; and

(b) determining whether the agent binds to said protein or said nucleicacid.

In general, therefore, such methods for identifying compounds that bindto a polynucleotide of the invention can comprise contacting a compoundwith a polynucleotide of the invention for a time sufficient to form apolynucleotide/compound complex, and detecting the complex, so that if apolynucleotide/compound complex is detected, a compound that binds to apolynucleotide of the invention is identified.

Likewise, in general, therefore, such methods for identifying compoundsthat bind to a polypeptide of the invention can comprise contacting acompound with a polypeptide of the invention for a time sufficient toform a polypeptide/compound complex, and detecting the complex, so thatif a polypeptide/compound complex is detected, a compound that binds toa polynucleotide of the invention is identified.

Methods for identifying compounds that bind to a polypeptide of theinvention can also comprise contacting a compound with a polypeptide ofthe invention in a cell for a time sufficient to form apolypeptide/compound complex, wherein the complex drives expression of areceptor gene sequence in the cell, and detecting the complex bydetecting reporter gene sequence expression, so that if apolypeptide/compound complex is detected, a compound that binds apolypeptide of the invention is identified.

Compounds identified via such methods can include compounds whichmodulate the activity of a polypeptide of the invention (that is,increase or decrease its activity, relative to activity observed in theabsence of the compound). Alternatively, compounds identified via suchmethods can include compounds which modulate the expression of apolynucleotide of the invention (that is, increase or decreaseexpression relative to expression levels observed in the absence of thecompound). Compounds, such as compounds identified via the methods ofthe invention, can be tested using standard assays well known to thoseof skill in the art for their ability to modulate activity/expression.

The agents screened in the above assay can be, but are not limited to,peptides, carbohydrates, vitamin derivatives, or other pharmaceuticalagents. The agents can be selected and screened at random or rationallyselected or designed using protein modeling techniques.

For random screening, agents such as peptides, carbohydrates,pharmaceutical agents and the like are selected at random and areassayed for their ability to bind to the protein encoded by the ORF ofthe present invention. Alternatively, agents may be rationally selectedor designed. As used herein, an agent is said to be “rationally selectedor designed” when the agent is chosen based on the configuration of theparticular protein. For example, one skilled in the art can readilyadapt currently available procedures to generate peptides,pharmaceutical agents and the like capable of binding to a specificpeptide sequence in order to generate rationally designed antipeptidepeptides, for example see Hurby et al., Application of SyntheticPeptides: Antisense Peptides,” In Synthetic Peptides, A User's Guide, W.H. Freeman, NY (1992), pp. 289-307, and Kaspczak et al., Biochemistry28:9230-8 (1989), or pharmaceutical agents, or the like.

In addition to the foregoing, one class of agents of the presentinvention, as broadly described, can be used to control gene expressionthrough binding to one of the ORFs or EMFs of the present invention. Asdescribed above, such agents can be randomly screened or rationallydesigned/selected. Targeting the ORF or EMF allows a skilled artisan todesign sequence specific or element specific agents, modulating theexpression of either a single ORF or multiple ORFs which rely on thesame EMF for expression control. One class of DNA binding agents areagents which contain base residues which hybridize or form a triplehelix formation by binding to DNA or RNA. Such agents can be based onthe classic phosphodiester, ribonucleic acid backbone, or can be avariety of sulfhydryl or polymeric derivatives which have baseattachment capacity.

Agents suitable for use in these methods usually contain 20 to 40 basesand are designed to be complementary to a region of the gene involved intranscription (triple helix see Lee et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 6:3073(1979); Cooney et al., Science 241:456 (1988); and Dervan et al.,Science 251:1360 (1991)) or to the mRNA itself(antisense—Okano, J.Neurochem. 56:560 (1991); Oligodeoxynucleotides as Antisense Inhibitorsof Gene Expression, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla. (1988)). Triplehelix-formation optimally results in a shut-off of RNA transcriptionfrom DNA, while antisense RNA hybridization blocks translation of anmRNA molecule into polypeptide. Both techniques have been demonstratedto be effective in model systems. Information contained in the sequencesof the present invention is necessary for the design of an antisense ortriple helix oligonucleotide and other DNA binding agents. Agents whichbind to a protein encoded by one of the ORFs of the present inventioncan be used as a diagnostic agent, in the control of bacterial infectionby modulating the activity of the protein encoded by the ORF. Agentswhich bind to a protein encoded by one of the ORFs of the presentinvention can be formulated using known techniques to generate apharmaceutical composition.

14. Use of Nucleic Acids as Probes

Another aspect of the subject invention is to provide forpolypeptide-specific nucleic acid hybridization probes capable ofhybridizing with naturally occurring nucleotide sequences. Thehybridization probes of the subject invention may be derived from thenucleotide sequence of the SEQ ID NO: 1. Because the corresponding geneis only expressed in a limited number of tissues, especially adulttissues, a hybridization probe derived from SEQ ID NO: 1 can be used asan indicator of the presence of RNA of cell type of such a tissue in asample.

Any suitable hybridization technique can be employed, such as, forexample, in situ hybridization. PCR as described U.S. Pat. Nos.4,683,195 and 4,965,188 provides additional uses for oligonucleotidesbased upon the nucleotide sequences. Such probes used in PCR may be ofrecombinant origin, may be chemically synthesized, or a mixture of both.The probe will comprise a discrete nucleotide sequence for the detectionof identical sequences or a degenerate pool of possible sequences foridentification of closely related genomic sequences.

Other means for producing specific hybridization probes for nucleicacids include the cloning of nucleic acid sequences into vectors for theproduction of mRNA probes. Such vectors are known in the art and arecommercially available and may be used to synthesize RNA probes in vitroby means of the addition of the appropriate RNA polymerase as T7 or SP6RNA polymerase and the appropriate radioactively labeled nucleotides.The nucleotide sequences may be used to construct hybridization probesfor mapping their respective genomic sequences. The nucleotide sequenceprovided herein may be mapped to a chromosome or specific regions of achromosome using well known genetic and/or chromosomal mappingtechniques. These techniques include in situ hybridization, linkageanalysis against known chromosomal markers, hybridization screening withlibraries or flow-sorted chromosomal preparations specific to knownchromosomes, and the like. The technique of fluorescent in situhybridization of chromosome spreads has been described, among otherplaces, in Verma et al (1988) Human Chromosomes: A Manual of BasicTechniques, Pergamon Press, New York N.Y.

Fluorescent in situ hybridization of chromosomal preparations and otherphysical chromosome mapping techniques may be correlated with additionalgenetic map data. Examples of genetic map data can be found in the 1994Genome Issue of Science (265:1981f). Correlation between the location ofa nucleic acid on a physical chromosomal map and a specific disease (orpredisposition to a specific disease) may help delimit the region of DNAassociated with that genetic disease. The nucleotide sequences of thesubject invention may be used to detect differences in gene sequencesbetween normal, carrier or affected individuals. The nucleotide sequencemay be used to produce purified polypeptides using well known methods ofrecombinant DNA technology. Among the many publications that teachmethods for the expression of genes after they have been isolated isGoeddel (1990) Gene Expression Technology, Methods and Enzymology, Vol185, Academic Press, San Diego. Polypeptides may be expressed in avariety of host cells, either prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Host cells maybe from the same species from which a particular polypeptide nucleotidesequence was isolated or from a different species. Advantages ofproducing polypeptides by recombinant DNA technology include obtainingadequate amounts of the protein for purification and the availability ofsimplified purification procedures.

Each sequence so obtained was compared to sequences in GenBank using asearch algorithm developed by Applied Biosystems and incorporated intothe INHERIT™ 670 Sequence Analysis System. In this algorithm, PatternSpecification Language (developed by TRW Inc., Los Angeles, Calif.) wasused to determine regions of homology. The three parameters thatdetermine how the sequence comparisons run were window size, windowoffset, and error tolerance. Using a combination of these threeparameters, the DNA database was searched for sequences containingregions of homology to the query sequence, and the appropriate sequenceswere scored with an initial value. Subsequently, these homologousregions were examined using dot matrix homology plots to distinguishregions of homology from chance matches. Smith-Waterman alignments wereused to display the results of the homology search. Peptide and proteinsequence homologies were ascertained using the INHERIT™ 670 SequenceAnalysis System in a way similar to that used in DNA sequencehomologies. Pattern Specification Language and parameter windows wereused to search protein databases for sequences containing regions ofhomology that were scored with an initial value. Dot-matrix homologyplots were examined to distinguish regions of significant homology fromchance matches.

Alternatively, BLAST, which stands for Basic Local Alignment SearchTool, is used to search for local sequence alignments (Altschul S F(1993) J Mol Evol 36:290-300; Altschul, S F et al (1990) J Mol Biol215:403-10). BLAST produces alignments of both nucleotide and amino acidsequences to determine sequence similarity. Because of the local natureof the alignments, BLAST is especially useful in determining exactmatches or in identifying homologs. Whereas it is ideal for matcheswhich do not contain gaps, it is inappropriate for performingmotif-style searching. The fundamental unit of BLAST algorithm output isthe High-scoring Segment Pair (HSP). An HSP consists of two sequencefragments of arbitrary but equal lengths whose alignment is locallymaximal and for which the alignment score meets or exceeds a thresholdor cutoff score set by the user. The BLAST approach is to look for HSPsbetween a query sequence and a database sequence, to evaluate thestatistical significance of any matches found, and to report only thosematches which satisfy the user-selected threshold of significance. Theparameter E establishes the statistically significant threshold forreporting database sequence matches. E is interpreted as the upper boundof the expected frequency of chance occurrence of an HSP (or set ofHSPs) within the context of the entire database search. Any databasesequence whose match satisfies E is reported in the program output.

In addition, BLAST analysis was used to search for related moleculeswithin the libraries of the LIFESEQ™ database. This process, an“electronic northern” analysis is analogous to northern blot analysis inthat it uses one cellubrevin sequence at a time to search for identicalor homologous molecules at a set stringency. The stringency of theelectronic northern is based on “product score”. The product score isdefined as (% nucleotide or amino acid [between the query and referencesequences] in Blast multiplied by the % maximum possible BLAST score[based on the lengths of query and reference sequences]) divided by 100.At a product score of 40, the match will be exact within a 1-2% error;and at 70, the match will be exact. Homologous or related molecules canbe identified by selecting those which show product scores betweenapproximately 15 and 30.

The present invention is illustrated in the following examples. Uponconsideration of the present disclosure, one of skill in the art willappreciate that many other embodiments and variations may be made in thescope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that thebroader aspects of the present invention not be limited to thedisclosure of the following examples. Example 1 addresses cloning ofIL-1Hy2 cDNA, Example 2 addresses identification of polymorphisms,Example 3 addresses tissue expression of IL-1Hy2 mRNA, Example 4addresses chromosomal localization of IL-1Hy2 DNA, Example 5 addressesidentification of an IL-1 receptor binding region and binding to IL-1receptor, and Example 6 addresses confirmation of IL-1Hy2 biologicalactivities through assessment of its modulating effect on IL-1 relatedactivities and IL-1 related disorders.

EXAMPLE 1 Cloning of IL-1 Hy2 cDNA

A plurality of novel nucleic acids were obtained from the FSK001 cDNAlibrary (prepared from human fetal skin tissue mRNA purchased fromInvitrogen, San Diego, Calif.) using standard PCR, SBH sequencesignature analysis and Sanger sequencing techniques. The inserts of thelibrary were amplified with PCR using primers specific for pSport1(GIBCO BRL, Grand Island, N.Y) vector sequences which flank the inserts.These samples were spotted onto nylon membranes and interrogated witholigonucleotide probes to give sequence signatures. The clones wereclustered into groups of similar or identical sequences, and singlerepresentative clones were selected from each group for gel sequencing.The 5′ sequence of the amplified inserts was then deduced using thereverse M13 sequencing primer in a typical Sanger sequencing protocol.PCR products were purified and subjected to flourescent dye terminatorcycle sequencing. Single pass gel sequencing was done using a 377Applied Biosystems (ABI) sequencer. One cDNA insert was identified bysequencing of several hundred base pairs (approximately 1-386 of SEQ IDNO: 1) as a novel sequence related to IL-1Ra that had not beenpreviously reported in public databases. The remaining sequence of SEQID NO: 1 was obtained by further sequencing of the entire cDNA insert ofthe same clone; the sequence was confirmed in part by sequencing of 5′RACE PCR products from fetal skin and adult brain cDNA libraries. Thissequence and the clone were designated by code name CG149 and clone nameRTA00003379F.h.20 (later redesignated pIL-1 Hy2 and deposited at theATCC on May 21, 1999 under Accession No. PTA-96), and the encodedpolypeptide was designated IL-1Ra-Hy2 (later redesignated IL-1Hy2).

EXAMPLE 2 Identification of Polymorphisms

Sequencing of a number of PCR products from various cDNA librariesrevealed several potential polymorphisms, which are described withreference to the nucleotide sequence numbering of SEQ ID NO: 1.

At nucleotide 125 of SEQ ID NO: 1, the “T” may be replaced with a “C”,resulting in a codon change from “GAT” to “GAC” (a silent mutation, asboth codons encode the amino acid Asp). At nucleotide 184 of SEQ ID NO:1, the “C” may be replaced with a “T”, resulting in a codon change from“ACA” (encoding Thr) to “ATA” (encoding Ile). At nucleotide 205 of SEQID NO: 1, the “A” may be replaced with a “C”, resulting in a codonchange from “GAC” (Asp) to “GCC” (Ala). The changes in the amino acidsequence may be reflected in differences in the biological activities ofthe molecules, which can be confirmed by testing in any of the activityassays described herein.

EXAMPLE 3 Tissue Expression Study

Gene expression of human IL-1 Hy2 was analyzed using a semi-quantitativePCR-based technique. A panel of cDNA libraries derived from human tissue(from Clontech and Invitrogen) was screened with IL-1Hy2 specificprimers [5′-CCGCACCAAGGTCCCCATTTTC-3′ (nucleotides 206-227), SEQ ID NO:10 and 3′-GAGCCCACAAGGATAACCCAGG-5′ (nucleotides 728-707), SEQ ID NO:11] to examine the mRNA expression of IL-1Hy2 in the following humantissues and cell types: heart, kidney, lung, placenta, liver, ovary,lymph node, spleen, testes, thymus, fetal liver, fetal skin, fetalspleen and macrophage. PCR assays (94° C. for 30 sec., 58° C. for 30sec., 72° C. for 30 sec., for 30 cycles) were performed with 20 ng ofcDNA derived from human tissues and cell lines and 10 picomoles of theIL-1Hy2 gene-specific primers. The 522 bp PCR product was identifiedthrough gel electrophoresis. Amplified products were separated on anagarose gel, transfered and chemically linked to a nylon filter. Thefilter was then hybridized with a radioactively labeled (³³Palpha-dCTP)double-stranded probe generated from the full-length SEQ ID NO: 1sequence using a Klenow polymerase, random prime method. The filterswere washed (high stringency) and used to expose a phosphorimagingscreen for several hours. Bands indicated the presence of cDNA includingSEQ ID NO: 1 sequences in a specific library, and thus mRNA expressionin the corresponding cell type or tissue.

IL-1Hy2 mRNA was observed to be expressed in kidney, spleen, and fetalskin. Similar to IL-1Hy2, IL-1Ra and IL-1Hy1 mRNA are also expressed inthe human fetal skin tissues, suggesting that this family of proteinsmay share some physiologic functions.

EXAMPLE 4 Chromosomal Localization Study

Chromosome mapping technologies allow investigators to link genes tospecific regions of chromosomes. Chromosomal mapping was performed usingthe NIGMS human/rodent somatic cell hybrid mapping panel as described byDrwinga, H. L. et al., Genomics, 16, 311-314, 1993 (human/rodent somaticcell hybrid mapping panel #2 purchased from the Coriell Institute forMedical Research, Camden, N.J.). 60 ng of DNA from each sample in thepanel was used as template, and 10 picomoles of the same IL-1Hy2gene-specific oligonucleotides used in Example 3 were used as primers ina PCR assay (94° C. for 30 sec., 58° C. for 30 sec., 72° C. for 30 sec.,for 30 cycle products were analyzed by gel electrophoresis. The 800 bpgenomic PCR product was detected only in the human/rodent somatic cellhybrid DNA containing human chromosome 2.

Gene family members are often linked to specific regions of chromosomesowing to intrachromosomal gene duplication events that give rise tomultimember gene families during the process of evolution. Theinterleukin-1 gene family has been mapped to chromosome 2. Morespecifically, all of the interleukin 1 genes (IL-1α, IL-1β) and thereceptors (IL-1 RI and IL-1 RII), as well as the receptor antagonistIL-1ra and the newly identified IL-1 Hy2 have been found to be situatedin chromosome 2. The identification of IL-1 Hy2 sequences in this sameregion establishes its physical linkage to the interleukin-1 locus whichindicates that IL-1 Hy2 functions as a modulator of the inflammatoryresponse.

EXAMPLE 5

Interleukin-1 Receptor Binding Domain and Interleukin-1 Receptor Assay

The receptor binding region of both IL-1β and IL-1 Ra have been mappedto an 18 amino acid region in the carboxy terminal half of the proteins(i.e., residues 88-105 of IL-1β) by site-directed mutagenesis andprotein modification studies.

IL-1 Hy2 and fragments thereof that include a receptor binding regionare useful as reagents to identify cells and tissues expressing IL-1receptors. The IL-1 receptor binding assay described in Hannum et al.Nature 343:336-340 (1990) maybe used. Briefly, highly radioactiverecombinant SEQ ID NOS: 2 or 4 is prepared by growing E.coli expressingeither of SEQ ID NOS: 2 or 4 on M9 medium containing ³⁵S-sulfate andpurifying the labeled recombinant polypeptide by chromatography on aMono-S column. The labeled polypeptide is incubated with the cells ortissue under standard IL-1 binding assay conditions, and ³⁵S binding.Significant ³⁵S binding indicates the presence of IL-1 receptors.

EXAMPLE 6 Expression of IL-1 Hy2 in E. coli

SEQ ID NO: 1 is expressed in E. coli by subcloning the entire codingregion into a prokaryotic expression vector. The expression vector(pQE16) used is from the QIAexpression prokaryotic protein expressionsystem (Qiagen). The features of this vector that make it useful forprotein expression include: an efficient promoter (phage T5) to drivetranscription; expression control provided by the lac operator system,which can be induced by addition of IPTG(isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside), and an encoded His₆ tag. Thelatter is a stretch of 6 histidine amino acid residues which can bindvery tightly to a nickel atom. The vector can be used to express arecombinant protein with a His₆ tag fused to its carboxyl terminus,allowing rapid and efficient purification using Ni-coupled affinitycolumns.

PCR is used to amplify the coding region which is then ligated intodigested pQE16 vector. The ligation product is transformed byelectroporation into electrocompetent E.coli cells (strain M15[pREP4]from Qiagen), and the transformed cells are plated onampicillin-containing plates. Colonies are screened for the correctinsert in the proper orientation using a PCR reaction employing agene-specific primer and a vector-specific primer. Positives are thensequenced to ensure correct orientation and sequence. To express IL-1Hy2, a colony containing a correct recombinant clone is inoculated intoL-Broth containing 100 μg/ml of ampicillin, 25 μg/ml of kanamycin, andthe culture was allowed to grow overnight at 37° C. The saturatedculture is then diluted 20-fold in the same medium and allowed to growto an optical density at 600 nm of 0.5. At this point, IPTG is added toa final concentration of I mM to induce protein expression. The cultureis allowed to grow for 5 more hours, and then the cells are harvested bycentrifugation at 3000×g for 15 minutes.

The resultant pellet is lysed using a mild, nonionic detergent in 20 mMTris HCl (pH 7.5) (B-PER™ Reagent from Pierce), or by sonication untilthe turbid cell suspension turned translucent. The lysate obtained isfurther purified using a nickel containing column (Ni-NTA spin columnfrom Qiagen) under non-denaturing conditions. Briefly, the lysate isbrought up to 300 mM NaCl and 10 mM imidazole and centrifuged at 700×gthrough the spin column to allow the His-tagged recombinant protein tobind to the nickel column. The column is then washed twice with WashBuffer (50 mM NaH₂PO₄, pH8.0; 300 mM NaCl; 20 mM imidazole) and iseluted with Elution Buffer (50 mM NaH₂PO₄, pH8.0; 300 mM NaCl; 250 mMimidazole). All the above procedures are performed at 4° C. The presenceof a purified protein of the predicted size is confirmed with SDS-PAGE.

EXAMPLE 7 Evaluation of IL-1 Hy2 Activities In Vitro and In Vivo

6.1 Binding to the Interleukin-1 Receptor

A cell binding assay is carried out to demonstrate that IL-1 Hy2 bindsto the Interleukin-1 receptor. Briefly, cell binding of the recombinantprotein with and without the presence of 100-fold greater amounts of nontagged Interleukin-1 βeta (IL-1β) ligand is analyzed by usingfluorescent antibodies specific for a IL-1 Hy2 polypeptide (e.g.specific for an express tag within the recombinant polypeptide) on thefluorescent activated cell sorter (FACS). In each reaction, 10⁶ cellsNHDF (normal human dermal fibroblasts) are resuspended in 100 ul of FACSbuffer (distilled PBS and 3% calf serum and 0.01% azide). Cell bindingis done by adding 5 nM recombinant IL-1 Hy2 in 100 ul cell suspensionand as a competition in one reaction, 500 nM of recombinant IL-1 β isalso added. The cells are incubated on ice for 1 hr. The cells arepelleted, 200 ul of 0.2 mM BS3 (crosslinker) is added, and the cells arekept on ice for 30 min. Next, 10 ul 1 M Tris pH 7.5 is added and thecells are incubated for 15 minutes on ice. The cells are pelleted,washed 1 time in FACS buffer, resuspended in 100 ul volume of FACSbuffer and 2 ul primary antibody (anti-express tag antibody 1 mg/ml) isadded, and incubated on ice for 30 min. The cells are pelleted, washedwith FACS buffer, and resuspended in FACS buffer (100 ul volume). Thesecondary antibody (phycoerythrin conjugated) 2 ul of anti-mouse Ig (1mg/ml) is added and the cells are incubated for 30 minutes on ice. Thecells are again pelleted, washed two times with FACS buffer, resuspendedin 0.5 ml FACS buffer and analyzed on FACS. A shift in the fluorescenceis expected to be observed in the cells treated with the recombinanttagged IL-1 Hy2. This binding is shown to be specific if it is competedoff with the non tagged IL-1 β protein. The results will indicatebinding of IL-1 Hy2 to the IL-1 receptor.

6.2 IL-1 Antagonist Activity

IL-1 antagonist activity is determined using a prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)based assay as follows. Cells are plated at 20,000 cells per well in a96 well plate 24 hours before the assay. The cells are then treated with25 pg/ml recombinant human IL-1β for 7 hours. To evaluate inhibition ofIL-1β stimulated PGE2 release by IL-1Hy1 in comparison to IL-1Ra, thecells are pretreated with various amounts of IL-1Hy1 or IL-1Ra for twohours before the addition of IL-1β. The supernatants are then collectedand cell debris is removed by centrifugation. The amounts of PGE2 in thesupernatants are determined by ELISA using the PGE2 assay system (R&DSystems) according to the manufacturer's protocol.

6.3 Inhibition Of Interleukin-1 Induced Cell Proliferation

Murine D10 T cells are obtained from the American Type CultureCollection (Rockville, Md.). Cells are maintained in Dulbecco's modifiedEagle medium and Ham's F-12 medium (1:1) containing 10 mM HEPES buffer(pH 7.4) and 10% fetal bovine serum. All tissue culture reagentscontained less than 0.25 ng/mL endotoxin as measured by the limulusamebocyte assay.

Murine D10 cells, an Interleukin-1 dependent T-cell line, are used tomeasure Interleukin-1 mitogenic activity. Cell proliferation in thepresence of Interleukin-1 with and without the IL-1 Hy2 polypeptides ofthe invention is assessed by incorporation of (³H) thymidine aspreviously described (Bakouche, O., et al. J. Immunol. 138:4249-4255,1987). In a preferred embodiment, antagonists and agonist of the IL-1Hy2 polypeptides of the invention are identified in this assay by addingthe candidate compounds with the Interleukin-1 and IL-1 Hy2 polypeptidesof the invention and measuring the change in cell proliferation causedby the candidate compound.

Inhibition of Interleukin-1-induced cytotoxicity is studied using anappropirate cel line, such as, for example, A375 tumor cells plated at adensity of 6000 cells per well in 96-well microliter plates. Afterovernight attachment, Interleukin-1 (3-300 ng/mL) is added in thepresence or absence of NAA or NMA. After cells are incubated for 3 days,(³H) thymidine is added (1 mu Ci per well) for an additional 2 hours.Cells are harvested onto glass fiber disks (PHD Cell Harvested;Cambridge Technology, Inc., Watertown, Mass.) Disks are air driedovernight, and radioactivity is determined with a Model 1900TRScintillation Counter (Packard Instrument Division, Downers Grove, Ill.)

Aortic smooth muscle cells are cultured by explanting segments of themedial layer of aortas from adult male Fischer 344 rats. Aortas areremoved aseptically and freed of adventitial and endothelial cells byscraping both the luminal and abluminal surfaces. Medial fragments areallowed to attach to Primaria 25-cm² tissue culture flasks(Becton-Dickinson, Lincoln Park, N.J.) which are kept moist with growthmedium until cells emerged. Cultures are fed twice weekly with medium199 containing 10% fetal bovine serum, 25 mM HEPES buffer (pH 7.4), 2 mML-glutamine, 40 mu g/mL endothelial cell growth supplement (BiomedicalTechnologies, Inc., Stoughton, Mass.) and 10 mu g/ml gentamicin (GIBCOBRL, Grand Island, N.Y.). When primary cultures become confluent, theyare passaged by trypsinization, and explants are discarded. For thesestudies, cells from passages 12-14 are seeded at 20,000 per well in96-well plates and are used at confluence (60,000-80,000 cells perwell). The cells exhibit the classic smooth muscle cell phenotype withhill and valley morphology, and they stain positively for smooth muscleactin.

Rat aortic smooth muscle cells are incubated with RPMI-1640 mediumcontaining 10% bovine calf serum, 25 mM HEPES buffer 7.4), 2 mMglutamine, 80 U/mL penicillin, 80 mu g/mL streptomycin, 2 mu g/mLfungizone, and Interleukin-1, IFN-gamma, and various inhibitors. At thedesired times, nitrite concentration in the culture medium is measuredusing the standard Griess assay (Green, L., et al. Anal. Biochem.126:131-138, 1982) adapted to a 96-well microtiter plate reader (Gross,S. S., et al. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 178:823-829, 1991). Thus,100 muL of Griess reagent (0.5% sulfanilic acid, 0.05%naphthalenediamine, and 2.5% phosphoric acid) is added to an equalvolume of culture medium, and the OD sub 550 is measured and related tonitrite concentration by reference to a standard curve. The backgroundOD sub 550 of medium incubated in the absence of cells is subtractedfrom experimental values.

Rat aortic smooth muscle cells are incubated with RPMI1640 mediumcontaining 10% bovine calf serum, 25 mM HEPES buffer (pH 7.4), 2 mMglutamine, 80 mu g/mL penicillin, 80 mu g/mL streptomycin, 2 mu g/mlfungizone, 30 mu g/mL lipopolysaccharide (Escherichia coli 0111:B4), and50 U/mL IFN-γ. Cells are harvested after 24 hours, and cytosol isprepared (Gross, S. S., et al. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.178:823-829, 1991). Cytosolic NO synthase activity is assayed by theFe²⁺-myoglobin method described previously (Gross, S. S., et al.Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 178:823-829, 1991).

6.6 Alloreactivity Determined by Lymph Node Weight Gain

Experiments are conducted to show that systemic administration of theIL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention suppress a localized, Tcell-dependent, immune response to alloantigen presented by allogeneiccells. Mice are injected in the footpad with irradiated, allogeneicspleen cells. The mice are then injected in the contralateral footpadwith irradiated, syngeneic spleen cells. An alloreactive response(marked by proliferation of lymphocytes and inflammation) occurs in thefootpad receiving the allogeneic cells, which can be measured bydetermining the increase in size and weight of the popliteal lymph nodedraining the site of antigen deposition relative to controls or by anincrease in cellularity.

Specific pathogen free 8-12 week old BALB/c (H-2 sup d) and C57BL/6 (H-2sup b) mice (Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Me.) are used in thisexperiment. 48 BALB/c mice are divided into 16 groups, each having 3mice (unless otherwise indicated). Each group of mice received adifferent mode of treatment. On day 0 the left footpads of all mice areinjected intracutaneously with 107 irradiated (2500R), allogeneic spleencells from C57BL/6 mice in 50 ul of RPMI-1640 (Gibco) as antigen and theright contralateral footpads of the same mice are injected with 10 sup 7irradiated (2500R), syngeneic spleen cells from BALB/c mice.

Seven days after antigen administration, the mice are sacrificed and thepopliteal lymph nodes (PLN) are removed from the right and leftpopliteal fossa by surgical dissection. Lymph nodes are weighed and theresults expressed as the difference (DELTA) in weight (mg) of the lymphnode draining the site of allogeneic cell injection and the weight ofthe node draining the syngeneic cell injection site. Lymph nodesdraining the syngeneic cell injection site weighed approximately 1 mg,regardless of whether they are obtained from mice treated with MSA orIL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention, and did not differ significantlyin weight from nodes obtained from mice given no cell injection.

6.7 Suppression of Organ Graft Rejection In Vivo

Neonatal C57BL/6 (H-2 sup b) hearts are transplanted into the ear pinnaeof adult BALB/c (H-2 sup d) recipients utilizing the method of Fulmer etal., Am. J. Anat. 113:273, 1963, modified as described by Trager et al.,Transplantation 47:587, 1989, and Van Buren et al., Transplant. Proc.15:2967, 1983. Survival of the transplanted hearts is assessed byvisually inspecting the grafts for pulsatile activity. Pulsatileactivity is determined by examining the ear-heart grafts of anesthetizedrecipients under a dissecting microscope with soft reflected lightbeginning on day 5 or 6 post transplant. The time of graft rejection isdefined as the day after transplantation on which contractile activityceases.

Recipient mice are transplanted on day 0 and injected with either IL-1Hy2 polypeptides of the invention plus MSA (mouse serum albumin, 100 ng)or with MSA alone on days 0 through 6, alternating i.p. and s.c. routes.In a second heart transplant experiment, the mice are injected with MSAalone on days 0 through 2, i.p. route only.

6.8 Suppression of Inflammatory Arthritis

20 rats are divided into 4 groups, designated Groups G-J, each having 5rats. All rats are immunized by subcutaneous injection. On day 21following immunization with mBSA, an inflammatory arthritis response iselicited. On the same day, a negative control group is injected with a0.2 ml volume of saline. Groups are injected with increasing amounts ofIL-1 Hy2 polypeptides of the invention. Interleukin-1 is injected in onegroup as a positive control. The diameter of the largest egion of thetreated joints is measured using a caliper on days 2, 4, 6 and 8relative to day 0 intra-articular injection of antigen.

6.9 Activity in a Pancreatitis Model

Acute edematous, necrotizing pancreatitis is induced in adult male Swissmice weighing more than 35 grams using caerulein--an analog ofcholecystokinin. Mice are divided into four groups with three of thegroups receiving caerulein 50 mu g/kg by intraperitoneal (IP) injectionin four doses over three hours as previously described. (Murayama etal., Arch Surg 1990;125:1570-1572; Tani et al., International JPancreatology 1987;2:337-348; Schoenberg et al., Free Radical Biology &Medicine 1992;12:515-522; Heath et al., Pancreas 1993;66:41-45; Salujaet al., Amer Physiological Society 1985: G702-G710; Manso et al.,Digestive Disease and Sciences 1992;37:364-368).

Group 1 is a control group (n-9) which receives only IP salineinjections. Group 2 (n=12) is an untreated disease control. Group 3(n=12) receives three injections of drug (10 mg/kg/hr) starting one hourprior to induction of pancreatitis. Group 4 (n=12) receives threeinjections of drug (10 mg/kg/hr) starting one hour after induction ofpancreatitis.

After a suitable time period, all animals are euthanized, the bloodcollected, and the pancreata surgically excised and weighed. Serum isassayed for amylase, lipase, IL-6, and TNF levels. Each pancreas isfixed, stained, and graded histologically in a blinded fashion forinterstitial edema, granulocyte infiltration, acinar vacuolization, andacinar cell. Additionally, serum levels of IL-1 Hy2 are determined,therefore allowing comparisons between dosage, serum level, systemiccytokine response, and degree of pancreatic damage.

Interleukin-6, Interleukin-1, Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, and TNFare measured by commercially available ELISA kits (Genzyme Corp.,Boston, Mass.). All specimens are run in triplicate. Serum levels ofamylase and lipase are measured on a Kodak Ectachem 700 automatedanalyzer (Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y.).

Histologic slides are prepared as is known in the art after rapidexcision and subsequent fixation in 10% formalin. The tissues areparaffin embedded as is known in the art and then stained withHematoxylin and Eosin in a standard fashion. These slides are examinedand graded in a blinded fashion by a board certified pathologist.

The present invention is not to be limited in scope by the exemplifiedembodiments which are intended as illustrations of single aspects of theinvention, and compositions and methods which are functionallyequivalent are within the scope of the invention. Indeed, numerousmodifications and variations in the practice of the invention areexpected to occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of thepresent preferred embodiments. Consequently, the only limitations whichshould be placed upon the scope of the invention are those which appearin the appended claims. All references cited within the body of theinstant specification are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

11 1 998 DNA Homo sapiens CDS (54)..(512) 1 ggttccagga actcaggatctgcagtgagg accagacacc actgattgca gga atg 56 Met 1 tgt tcc ctc ccc atggca aga tac tac ata att aaa tat gca gac cag 104 Cys Ser Leu Pro Met AlaArg Tyr Tyr Ile Ile Lys Tyr Ala Asp Gln 5 10 15 aag gct cta tac aca agagat ggc cag ctg ctg gtg gga gat cct gtt 152 Lys Ala Leu Tyr Thr Arg AspGly Gln Leu Leu Val Gly Asp Pro Val 20 25 30 gca gac aac tgc tgt gca gagaag atc tgc aca ctt cct aac aga ggc 200 Ala Asp Asn Cys Cys Ala Glu LysIle Cys Thr Leu Pro Asn Arg Gly 35 40 45 ttg gac cgc acc aag gtc ccc attttc ctg ggg atc cag gga ggg agc 248 Leu Asp Arg Thr Lys Val Pro Ile PheLeu Gly Ile Gln Gly Gly Ser 50 55 60 65 cgc tgc ctg gca tgt gtg gag acagaa gag ggg cct tcc cta cag ctg 296 Arg Cys Leu Ala Cys Val Glu Thr GluGlu Gly Pro Ser Leu Gln Leu 70 75 80 gag gat gtg aac att gag gaa ctg tacaaa ggt ggt gaa gag gcc aca 344 Glu Asp Val Asn Ile Glu Glu Leu Tyr LysGly Gly Glu Glu Ala Thr 85 90 95 cgc ttc acc ttc ttc cag agc agc tca ggctcc gcc ttc agg ctt gag 392 Arg Phe Thr Phe Phe Gln Ser Ser Ser Gly SerAla Phe Arg Leu Glu 100 105 110 gct gct gcc tgg cct ggc tgg ttc ctg tgtggc ccg gca gag ccc cag 440 Ala Ala Ala Trp Pro Gly Trp Phe Leu Cys GlyPro Ala Glu Pro Gln 115 120 125 cag cca gta cag ctc acc aag gag agt gagccc tca gcc cgt acc aag 488 Gln Pro Val Gln Leu Thr Lys Glu Ser Glu ProSer Ala Arg Thr Lys 130 135 140 145 ttt tac ttt gaa cag agc tgg tagggagacagga aactgcgttt tagccttgtg 542 Phe Tyr Phe Glu Gln Ser Trp 150cccccaaacc aagctcatcc tgctcagggt ctatggtagg cagaataatg tcccccgaaa 602tatgtccaca tcctaatccc aagatctgtg catatgttac catacatgtc caaagaggtt 662ttgcaaatgt gattatgtta aggatcttga aatgaggaga caatcctggg ttatccttgt 722gggctcagtt taatcacaag aaggaggcag gaagggagag tcagagagag aatggaagat 782accatgcttc taattttgaa gatggagtga ggggccttga gccaacatat gcaggtgttt 842ttagaaggag gaaaagccaa gggaacggat tctcctctat agtctccgga aggaacacag 902ctcttgacac atggatttca gctcagtgac acccatttca gacttctgac ctccacaact 962ataaaataat aaacttgtgt tattgtaaac ctctgg 998 2 152 PRT Homo sapiens 2 MetCys Ser Leu Pro Met Ala Arg Tyr Tyr Ile Ile Lys Tyr Ala Asp 1 5 10 15Gln Lys Ala Leu Tyr Thr Arg Asp Gly Gln Leu Leu Val Gly Asp Pro 20 25 30Val Ala Asp Asn Cys Cys Ala Glu Lys Ile Cys Thr Leu Pro Asn Arg 35 40 45Gly Leu Asp Arg Thr Lys Val Pro Ile Phe Leu Gly Ile Gln Gly Gly 50 55 60Ser Arg Cys Leu Ala Cys Val Glu Thr Glu Glu Gly Pro Ser Leu Gln 65 70 7580 Leu Glu Asp Val Asn Ile Glu Glu Leu Tyr Lys Gly Gly Glu Glu Ala 85 9095 Thr Arg Phe Thr Phe Phe Gln Ser Ser Ser Gly Ser Ala Phe Arg Leu 100105 110 Glu Ala Ala Ala Trp Pro Gly Trp Phe Leu Cys Gly Pro Ala Glu Pro115 120 125 Gln Gln Pro Val Gln Leu Thr Lys Glu Ser Glu Pro Ser Ala ArgThr 130 135 140 Lys Phe Tyr Phe Glu Gln Ser Trp 145 150 3 998 DNA Homosapiens CDS (3)..(512) 3 gg ttc cag gaa ctc agg atc tgc agt gag gac cagaca cca ctg att 47 Phe Gln Glu Leu Arg Ile Cys Ser Glu Asp Gln Thr ProLeu Ile 1 5 10 15 gca gga atg tgt tcc ctc ccc atg gca aga tac tac ataatt aaa tat 95 Ala Gly Met Cys Ser Leu Pro Met Ala Arg Tyr Tyr Ile IleLys Tyr 20 25 30 gca gac cag aag gct cta tac aca aga gat ggc cag ctg ctggtg gga 143 Ala Asp Gln Lys Ala Leu Tyr Thr Arg Asp Gly Gln Leu Leu ValGly 35 40 45 gat cct gtt gca gac aac tgc tgt gca gag aag atc tgc aca cttcct 191 Asp Pro Val Ala Asp Asn Cys Cys Ala Glu Lys Ile Cys Thr Leu Pro50 55 60 aac aga ggc ttg gac cgc acc aag gtc ccc att ttc ctg ggg atc cag239 Asn Arg Gly Leu Asp Arg Thr Lys Val Pro Ile Phe Leu Gly Ile Gln 6570 75 gga ggg agc cgc tgc ctg gca tgt gtg gag aca gaa gag ggg cct tcc287 Gly Gly Ser Arg Cys Leu Ala Cys Val Glu Thr Glu Glu Gly Pro Ser 8085 90 95 cta cag ctg gag gat gtg aac att gag gaa ctg tac aaa ggt ggt gaa335 Leu Gln Leu Glu Asp Val Asn Ile Glu Glu Leu Tyr Lys Gly Gly Glu 100105 110 gag gcc aca cgc ttc acc ttc ttc cag agc agc tca ggc tcc gcc ttc383 Glu Ala Thr Arg Phe Thr Phe Phe Gln Ser Ser Ser Gly Ser Ala Phe 115120 125 agg ctt gag gct gct gcc tgg cct ggc tgg ttc ctg tgt ggc ccg gca431 Arg Leu Glu Ala Ala Ala Trp Pro Gly Trp Phe Leu Cys Gly Pro Ala 130135 140 gag ccc cag cag cca gta cag ctc acc aag gag agt gag ccc tca gcc479 Glu Pro Gln Gln Pro Val Gln Leu Thr Lys Glu Ser Glu Pro Ser Ala 145150 155 cgt acc aag ttt tac ttt gaa cag agc tgg tag ggagacaggaaactgcgttt 532 Arg Thr Lys Phe Tyr Phe Glu Gln Ser Trp 160 165 170tagccttgtg cccccaaacc aagctcatcc tgctcagggt ctatggtagg cagaataatg 592tcccccgaaa tatgtccaca tcctaatccc aagatctgtg catatgttac catacatgtc 652caaagaggtt ttgcaaatgt gattatgtta aggatcttga aatgaggaga caatcctggg 712ttatccttgt gggctcagtt taatcacaag aaggaggcag gaagggagag tcagagagag 772aatggaagat accatgcttc taattttgaa gatggagtga ggggccttga gccaacatat 832gcaggtgttt ttagaaggag gaaaagccaa gggaacggat tctcctctat agtctccgga 892aggaacacag ctcttgacac atggatttca gctcagtgac acccatttca gacttctgac 952ctccacaact ataaaataat aaacttgtgt tattgtaaac ctctgg 998 4 169 PRT Homosapiens 4 Phe Gln Glu Leu Arg Ile Cys Ser Glu Asp Gln Thr Pro Leu IleAla 1 5 10 15 Gly Met Cys Ser Leu Pro Met Ala Arg Tyr Tyr Ile Ile LysTyr Ala 20 25 30 Asp Gln Lys Ala Leu Tyr Thr Arg Asp Gly Gln Leu Leu ValGly Asp 35 40 45 Pro Val Ala Asp Asn Cys Cys Ala Glu Lys Ile Cys Thr LeuPro Asn 50 55 60 Arg Gly Leu Asp Arg Thr Lys Val Pro Ile Phe Leu Gly IleGln Gly 65 70 75 80 Gly Ser Arg Cys Leu Ala Cys Val Glu Thr Glu Glu GlyPro Ser Leu 85 90 95 Gln Leu Glu Asp Val Asn Ile Glu Glu Leu Tyr Lys GlyGly Glu Glu 100 105 110 Ala Thr Arg Phe Thr Phe Phe Gln Ser Ser Ser GlySer Ala Phe Arg 115 120 125 Leu Glu Ala Ala Ala Trp Pro Gly Trp Phe LeuCys Gly Pro Ala Glu 130 135 140 Pro Gln Gln Pro Val Gln Leu Thr Lys GluSer Glu Pro Ser Ala Arg 145 150 155 160 Thr Lys Phe Tyr Phe Glu Gln SerTrp 165 5 155 PRT Homo sapiens 5 Met Val Leu Ser Gly Ala Leu Cys Phe ArgMet Lys Asp Ser Ala Leu 1 5 10 15 Lys Val Leu Tyr Leu His Asn Asn GlnLeu Leu Ala Gly Gly Leu His 20 25 30 Ala Gly Lys Val Ile Lys Gly Glu GluIle Ser Val Val Pro Asn Arg 35 40 45 Trp Leu Asp Ala Ser Leu Ser Pro ValIle Leu Gly Val Gln Gly Gly 50 55 60 Ser Gln Cys Leu Ser Cys Gly Val GlyGln Glu Pro Thr Leu Thr Leu 65 70 75 80 Glu Pro Val Asn Ile Met Glu LeuTyr Leu Gly Ala Lys Glu Ser Lys 85 90 95 Ser Phe Thr Phe Tyr Arg Arg AspMet Gly Leu Thr Ser Ser Phe Glu 100 105 110 Ser Ala Ala Tyr Pro Gly TrpPhe Leu Cys Thr Val Pro Glu Ala Asp 115 120 125 Gln Pro Val Arg Leu ThrGln Leu Pro Glu Asn Gly Gly Trp Asn Ala 130 135 140 Pro Ile Thr Asp PheTyr Phe Gln Gln Cys Asp 145 150 155 6 178 PRT Rattus rattus 6 Met GluIle Cys Arg Gly Pro Tyr Ser His Leu Ile Ser Leu Leu Leu 1 5 10 15 IleLeu Leu Phe Arg Ser Glu Ser Ala Gly His Pro Ala Gly Lys Arg 20 25 30 ProCys Lys Met Gln Ala Phe Arg Ile Trp Asp Thr Asn Gln Lys Thr 35 40 45 PheTyr Leu Arg Asn Asn Gln Leu Ile Ala Gly Tyr Leu Gln Gly Pro 50 55 60 AsnThr Lys Leu Glu Glu Lys Ile Asp Met Val Pro Ile Asp Phe Arg 65 70 75 80Asn Val Phe Leu Gly Ile His Gly Gly Lys Leu Cys Leu Ser Cys Val 85 90 95Lys Ser Gly Asp Asp Thr Lys Leu Gln Leu Glu Glu Val Asn Ile Thr 100 105110 Asp Leu Asn Lys Asn Lys Glu Glu Asp Lys Arg Phe Thr Phe Ile Arg 115120 125 Ser Glu Thr Gly Pro Thr Thr Ser Phe Glu Ser Leu Ala Cys Pro Gly130 135 140 Trp Phe Leu Cys Thr Thr Leu Glu Ala Asp His Pro Val Ser LeuThr 145 150 155 160 Asn Thr Pro Lys Glu Pro Cys Thr Val Thr Lys Phe TyrPhe Gln Glu 165 170 175 Asp Gln 7 177 PRT Sus scrofa 7 Met Glu Val SerArg Tyr Leu Cys Ser Tyr Leu Ile Ser Phe Leu Leu 1 5 10 15 Phe Leu PheHis Ser Glu Thr Ala Cys His Pro Leu Gly Lys Arg Pro 20 25 30 Cys Arg MetGln Ala Phe Arg Ile Trp Asp Val Asn Gln Lys Thr Phe 35 40 45 Tyr Leu ArgAsn Asn Gln Leu Val Ala Gly Tyr Leu Gln Gly Pro Asn 50 55 60 Thr Lys LeuGlu Glu Lys Ile Asp Val Val Pro Val Glu Pro His Phe 65 70 75 80 Val PheLeu Gly Ile His Gly Gly Lys Leu Cys Leu Ser Cys Val Lys 85 90 95 Ser GlyAsp Glu Met Lys Leu Gln Leu Asp Ala Val Asn Ile Thr Asp 100 105 110 LeuArg Lys Asn Ser Glu Gln Asp Lys Arg Phe Thr Phe Ile Arg Ser 115 120 125Asp Ser Gly Pro Thr Thr Ser Phe Glu Ser Ala Ala Cys Pro Gly Trp 130 135140 Phe Leu Cys Thr Ala Leu Glu Ala Asp Gln Pro Val Gly Leu Thr Asn 145150 155 160 Thr Pro Lys Ala Ala Val Lys Val Thr Lys Phe Tyr Phe Gln GlnAsp 165 170 175 Gln 8 177 PRT Homo sapiens 8 Met Glu Ile Cys Arg Gly LeuArg Ser His Leu Ile Thr Leu Leu Leu 1 5 10 15 Phe Leu Phe His Ser GluThr Ile Cys Arg Pro Ser Gly Arg Lys Ser 20 25 30 Ser Lys Met Gln Ala PheArg Ile Trp Asp Val Asn Gln Lys Thr Phe 35 40 45 Tyr Leu Arg Asn Asn GlnLeu Val Ala Gly Tyr Leu Gln Gly Pro Asn 50 55 60 Val Asn Leu Glu Glu LysIle Asp Val Val Pro Ile Glu Pro His Ala 65 70 75 80 Leu Phe Leu Gly IleHis Gly Gly Lys Met Cys Leu Ser Cys Val Lys 85 90 95 Ser Gly Asp Glu ThrArg Leu Gln Leu Glu Ala Val Asn Ile Thr Asp 100 105 110 Leu Ser Glu AsnArg Lys Gln Asp Lys Arg Phe Ala Phe Ile Arg Ser 115 120 125 Asp Ser GlyPro Thr Thr Ser Phe Glu Ser Ala Ala Cys Pro Gly Trp 130 135 140 Phe LeuCys Thr Ala Met Glu Ala Asp Gln Pro Val Ser Leu Thr Asn 145 150 155 160Met Pro Asp Glu Gly Val Met Val Thr Lys Phe Tyr Phe Gln Glu Asp 165 170175 Glu 9 159 PRT Homo sapiens 9 Met Ala Leu Glu Thr Ile Cys Arg Pro SerGly Arg Lys Ser Ser Lys 1 5 10 15 Met Gln Ala Phe Arg Ile Trp Asp ValAsn Gln Lys Thr Phe Tyr Leu 20 25 30 Arg Asn Asn Gln Leu Val Ala Gly TyrLeu Gln Gly Pro Asn Val Asn 35 40 45 Leu Glu Glu Lys Ile Asp Val Val ProIle Glu Pro His Ala Leu Phe 50 55 60 Leu Gly Ile His Gly Gly Lys Met CysLeu Ser Cys Val Lys Ser Gly 65 70 75 80 Asp Glu Thr Arg Leu Gln Leu GluAla Val Asn Ile Thr Asp Leu Ser 85 90 95 Glu Asn Arg Lys Gln Asp Lys ArgPhe Ala Phe Ile Arg Ser Asp Ser 100 105 110 Gly Pro Thr Thr Ser Phe GluSer Ala Ala Cys Pro Gly Trp Phe Leu 115 120 125 Cys Thr Ala Met Glu AlaAsp Gln Pro Val Ser Leu Thr Asn Met Pro 130 135 140 Asp Glu Gly Val MetVal Thr Lys Phe Tyr Phe Gln Glu Asp Glu 145 150 155 10 22 DNA ArtificialSequence Description of Artificial Sequenceprimer 10 ccgcaccaaggtccccattt tc 22 11 22 DNA Artificial Sequence Description of ArtificialSequenceprimer 11 gagcccacaa ggataaccca gg 22

What is claimed is:
 1. An isolated polypeptide with IL-1 Hy2 activitycomprising: (a) the IL-1 Hy2 protein sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2 or 4; or(b) an amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA insert of clone pIL-1Hy2(ATCC Accession No. PTA-96).
 2. The polypeptide of claim 1 coupled to alabel.
 3. A composition comprising the polypeptide of claim 1 and acarrier.
 4. A polypeptide according to claim 1 that binds toInterleukin-1 Receptor.